Last week, Fair Fight Action CEO Lauren Groh-Wargo joined independent journalist Suri Crowe for a live conversation about the rapidly unfolding fallout from the Supreme Court’s gutting of the Voting Rights Act – and what it’s going to take to fight back.
The conversation came the same day the Virginia Supreme Court struck down the state’s voter-approved redistricting map, potentially shutting the door on any chance of new districts by November. With Republican-led legislatures racing to crack apart Black communities across the South, and blue states like Virginia and California getting punished for trying to follow the rules, Lauren and Suri broke down what’s happening, why it’s coordinated, and what comes next.
What they covered:
The three-part Republican strategy Steve Bannon laid out last year – mid-decade partisan gerrymandering, gutting Section 2, and changing the census to not count non-citizens – and how the second piece just dropped
The 19 Southern seats held by Black and Latino representatives that are now vulnerable post-Callais, with special sessions already moving in Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, South Carolina, and Mississippi
Why the Louisiana decision to throw out 42,000 already-cast votes – including from overseas military and veterans – is a precedent-breaking abuse of power
The path to still winning the House this fall, including competitive U.S. Senate races for Scott Colom in Mississippi and Jon Ossoff in Georgia
Concrete calls to action: become a poll worker through Power the Polls, amplify Southern organizers online, and pressure blue-state governors to protect Black political power even as they redraw their own maps
Lauren Groh-Wargo:
“They’re trying to break the backs of Black Americans and their allies so that we don’t vote in November. They’re trying to say, you do not have power. Now, we know we have power. The South is where 60% of Black Americans live. So this is all hands on deck.”
Suri Crowe:
“We tried to do things the right way by putting it to the people. And yet it seems that for following the rules, states like Virginia, California – they made it through – now we’re getting punished. We just got punched in the face by these justices.”
Watch the full conversation for more.
In Solidarity,
Fair Fight Action Team
