Black House seats drop to 60 despite strong midterm turnout

The incoming U.S. House of Representatives will include 60 Black members, a figure that marks a decline from the current session. This number includes nonvoting members and stands just one seat above the record low of 63 seen after the 1876 election. The drop follows a Supreme Court ruling this year that weakened the Voting Rights Act, which had previously protected districts designed to allow Black voters to elect candidates of their choice.

Democrats secured enough victories in the midterm elections to offset some of the losses caused by redistricting. High voter turnout, particularly in Southern states, allowed several Black candidates to hold their seats or flip new ones. This momentum countered the immediate impact of new district maps drawn by Republican legislatures in states like Alabama and North Carolina.

Rep. Shomari Figures of Alabama won reelection in a district that state leaders redrew to favor Republicans. A lower federal court had previously found the new lines were tainted by intentional race-based discrimination, stating they would give Black-preferred candidates zero chance of winning. Figures avoided the fate of Rep. Cleo Fields of Louisiana, who retired after the Supreme Court struck down the district she represented in the Louisiana v. Callais decision.

Cliff Albright, co-founder and executive director of Black Voters Matter, described the election results as a Black wave rather than a simple blue wave. He noted that the Black electorate was motivated by attacks on voting rights and gerrymandering. Albright stated that it took a remarkable level of turnout for Figures to win his seat in Alabama's 2nd Congressional District.

Other Democratic wins included Rep. Don Davis in North Carolina, who defended his seat after his district was redrawn. Two incoming Black House Democrats, Cyril Jefferson and LaKesha Womack, flipped districts that had long been represented by white Republicans. Additionally, Melat Kiros in Colorado and Donavan McKinney in Michigan are adding to the incoming count of Black members.

Georgia’s political shift reduced the immediate threat to its Black congressional districts. The state’s outgoing Republican Governor, Brian Kemp, announced he will not call a special session on redistricting before handing power to Gov.-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms. Bottoms is set to become the first Black woman elected governor in the country.

Experts warn that the current success may not be sustainable without continued high turnout. Kareem Crayton, a redistricting expert at the Brennan Center for Justice, compared the moment to 2009, noting that many changes from the Obama era were reversed in subsequent elections. He advised a cautious approach to crafting rules to protect rights under worst-case conditions.

Black representation in the Senate is rising to a historic high of seven members. This group includes Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton and Scott Colom, who will become the first Black senator from Mississippi since Reconstruction. While the House faces a net loss of three seats, the Senate gains provide a partial balance in the new Congress.

Dedrick Asante-Muhammad of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies said the greatest reaction to the Callais ruling will occur in 2028 and 2030. Janai Nelson of the Legal Defense Fund added that state legislatures and local school boards will likely face the next wave of map redrawing, potentially impacting electability for Black voters beyond Congress.