Politics

‘We’re fighting this by ourselves’: Southern Black leaders feel abandoned by Democratic Party

Published

3 months ago

July 10, 2026

Black leaders across the South have expressed a visceral shock in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision gutting the Voting Rights Act. But as the surprise wears off, a sense of isolation has begun to set in among some.

Black lawmakers and activists across the Deep South argue they have been abandoned by the Democratic Party to fight an existential crisis on their own. They say they’ve been let down by nearly all corners of the party: would be-presidential hopefuls who have flocked to early and swing states but don’t bring their megaphones elsewhere; congressional leadership focused on majority-making battlegrounds while safe Black seats are drawn out; and years of chronic underfunding that has allowed local party apparatus to wither away.

“Folks who lead our party go to swing states like North Carolina and Georgia, but states like Mississippi and Tennessee and Alabama and South Carolina are really neglected and are really forgotten and are really treated as if it is inevitable that we’ll always stay in such systems of what I call apartheid type of politics,” said Tennessee state Rep. Justin Jones.

The feeling of neglect is compounding what the lawmakers called a crisis for Black representation already underway in the wake of Louisiana v. Callais, the April Supreme Court decision that took aim at the VRA.

While Black Southern lawmakers sound the alarm on the long-term consequences for their congressional delegations and legislatures, Republican leaders in several Southern strongholds have already signaled plans to redraw district lines ahead of 2028.

Florida state House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell said that between the Supreme Court, the White House and GOP-controlled statehouses, there is a “concerted effort to suppress Black votes” — a refrain many Black leaders have been shouting recently.

“Republicans in the Legislature and the Supreme Court have said that it’s okay to turn back the clock and reverse civil rights progress in this country,” Driskell said. “They’re basically giving these Southern states what they have consistently and persistently wanted, which is to suppress Black voices.”

Though many Black leaders said they ultimately hold Republicans responsible for the Callais decision — andthe subsequent redistricting efforts — a sense of frustration at congressional Democrats is also palpable, especially among younger Black Americans.

“The Democrats sort of allowed for this behavior to regularly happen,” said Yolanda Renee King, the granddaughter of Martin Luther King Jr., noting that the party fumbled its chance to pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act during the Biden administration. “I think that there could have been an opportunity before this second surge in MAGA. As of right now, I’m not sure if we necessarily have the infrastructure for that.”

Black elected officials and activists who spoke to Blue Light News did not call out particular party leaders by name, with Jones’ team arguing it is a broader problem in a “political system that continually abandons Black voters.”

A demonstrator holds up a sign outside the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama, on May 7, 2026.

“This crisis of multiracial democracy is bigger than any one person’s failing, and will require a unified movement if we are going to stop the largest assault on Black representation since the end of Reconstruction,” Chandler Quaile, Jones’ chief of staff, said in a later statement.

But it comes at a time when the party’s three most prominent leaders — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and DNC Chair Ken Martin — face discontent from various wings of the party.

The DNC defended its work with Black communities and voters, saying it has been providing some tools to Southern states — such as training and staffing for those in need of infrastructure, including a 10-week training for states without a voter protection director. And since the start of the year, Martin has traveled to cities including Atlanta; Selma, Alabama; and Memphis, Tennessee.

“The DNC will use every tool at our disposal to protect the right to vote and to fight against the dilution of Black political power as a result of the disastrous Callais decision,” said Angelo Fernández Hernández, spokesperson for the DNC, in a statement.

And Republicans rejected Democrats’ characterization of their post-decision redistricting scramble. In a statement, White House spokesperson Allison Schuster said the Supreme Court’s ruling ended “the unlawful practice of drawing congressional districts on the basis of race” and was “a win for all Americans and our colorblind constitution.”

But Black Democrats say it’s hard to build a defense when party leaders are clashing over what their offensive strategy should be. Some have called for redrawing maps in blue states to favor Democratic candidates, while others are relying on lawsuits challenging new GOP maps.

Some have called for both.

“I don’t need anybody to hold my hand, but what I need is strategy,” Driskell said. “I need us to be thoughtful, and I think that that is what is missing.”

Like Jones, Driskell didn’t direct her frustrations at any one specific party leader, but added that Black leaders across the South “definitely understand” the potential repercussions Callais could have on their communities — and that “it would be great for the national dialogue to pick up on that.”

Jeffries’ office did not respond to a request for comment, and a spokesperson for Schumer declined to comment, instead directing questions to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Jessica Knight Henry, deputy executive director for the DSCC, said in a statement that Democrats are working to meet Republican-led attacks on voters through the courts and investments.

“Democrats have worked to meet these attacks head on in court, in campaigns, and we will continue to invest strategically in states that offer opportunities for Democrats to flip seats and take back majorities so we can fight to pass legislation that advances voter protections and rights, like the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act,” Knight Henry said.

Still, over the last year, the party’s main focus has been on winning back the House and Senate. Even the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus PAC, the campaigning arm of the entirely Democratic 62-member caucus, said in a previous interview that its focus remains taking back Congress.

“The PAC has always been focused on electing Democrats in tough seats so that we can reclaim the majority. That goal, that focus, has not changed,” Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) told Blue Light News in May, shortly after the Callais ruling came down.

The fight over redistricting could dramatically weaken Black representation, both in Congress and in state governments; CBC leadership has projected that roughly a third of their members could see their seats erased with redistricting efforts.

State Rep. Justin J. Pearson (D-Memphis), center, marches with protesters before a special session of the state Legislature to redraw U.S. congressional voting maps, in Nashville, Tennessee, on May 5, 2026.

And in The POLITICO Poll in May, 45 percent of Democratic voters said the party should consider countering Republican efforts by drawing their own maps that create more Democratic seats, even if it means reducing the number of majority-minority districts.

Black leaders in the states said that dual reality — Republicans targeting seats in the South and a Democratic Party rank and file seemingly willing to abandon other seats for more political power — only deepens the isolation they feel. Non-Black voters fail to grasp the gravity of the moment, they argued.

For these leaders, the stakes are personal, citing a direct, familial connection to a pre-VRA era, when Jim Crow laws were flourishing across many Southern states.

Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones recalled sitting across the dinner table from his father, who integrated a public school at just 7 years old, while Driskell shared stories of her father seeing “colored only” water fountains at public parks as a child.

“A lot of Black people feel like, in some ways, we’re fighting this by ourselves,” Justin Jones, the Tennessee lawmaker, said. “We need the wider community — particularly our white allies — to step up and see that this is not just a fight for Black people, but it’s a fight for all Americans who really believe in multiracial democracy.”

Some state leaders are now leaning on each other to try and get ahead of potential issues come the midterms this November. Jay Jones said his office is using “every tool at our disposal” to maintain “free elections,” including collaborating with other Democratic attorneys general to brainstorm voter protection tactics.

“We want to make sure that everybody participates and steps up, that they can go do so freely, without fear of intimidation, retribution, or being denied a ballot,” said Jay Jones, the commonwealth’s first Black attorney general.

Meanwhile, activists are leading their own charge as well, trying to rally a groundswell movement that they hope cannot be ignored.

“Every major question of whether America is going to be a democracy — that question was asked and answered in the South,” said LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter. “And so, once again, we’re being asked. And our question is: Is America going to be a democratic nation with free and fair elections? That question is for America, but the South will answer it.”

Politics

‘A warning sign for polling’: Why one GOP pollster thinks a blue wave may fall short

Published

38 minutes ago

October 19, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Democrats are salivating over, and Republicans are bracing for, a potentially massive blue wave. One GOP pollster is urging everyone to calm down.

Patrick Ruffini, a founding partner at Echelon Insights, has been loudly throwing cold water on Democrats’ hopes of sweeping the red state Senate seats that have become battlegrounds in a worsening national environment for Republicans.

“The polls are, I think, intentionally inflating the size of the battleground,” Ruffini told Blue Light News.

Democrats are pushing to flip Senate seats in Iowa, Texas, Ohio and Alaska — all states that President Donald Trump won by at least 11 points in 2024 — with dreams of going even deeper into the map Kansas, South Carolina and even Mississippi. Sensing a potential disaster, Republicans have significantly curtailed their investments in North Carolina and Georgia to direct resources elsewhere.

Ruffini, who isn’t polling for candidates or party committees in any federal races, said he’s skeptical of Democrats flipping some of those seats, particularly in the Midwest, and gives the GOP a coin flip’s chance at keeping control of the Senate.

If a blue wave were to come, he said it would defy the ingrained partisanship in deep-red states that has mirrored growing political polarization around the country.

“I think it would be somewhat of a historic shift if that were to happen,” he said.

Here’s more from Blue Light News’s chat with Ruffini, edited for length and clarity. A more condensed version of this interview ran in Blue Light News’s Morning Score campaign newsletter.

You’ve been pretty publicly skeptical of polling that indicates a big tsunami for Democrats in November. Why is that?

I think we can read the environment right, but the map wrong.

The pretty large shift towards Democrats that we’re seeing on the generic ballot and in a lot of individual races, I’m not saying that’s not going to materialize. What I am more skeptical of is… the ability of any major party in this polarized era that we’re in to rack up significant gains in states that went double digits for the other side.

I’m not ruling out — I think there will be some [examples]. I think Alaska is one where it’s both an idiosyncratic state, and [Democratic nominee Mary] Peltola has shown some specific candidate-centered strength. Nor would it shock me if [Democrat] James Talarico wins, despite the history in Texas. That would not surprise me, just given the candidate quality disparity, particularly on the Ken Paxton side.

Where I get more skeptical is when you move into the Midwest, where there has historically been pretty large polling errors [overstating Democrats’ chances] in states like Iowa, Ohio. And I think you can extend that to the Democratic enthusiasm around Kansas.

Is your skepticism coming more from the quality of the individual polls that you’re seeing that are showing massive Democratic surges in the Midwest, or is it the history of these states that you’re betting will ultimately win out?

I think fundamentals are going to play an important role, particularly in states where there was a solid Trump advantage. We’re not talking about a state like North Carolina or Georgia that’s only for Trump narrowly, where Democrats, at least in the Senate races, are clearly favored.

Historically the presumption is that states tend to converge on their base partisanship in the closing days of an election, but especially that’s been the pattern in the Midwest.

Specifically as it relates to the polls this year, I think any pollster you would talk to, including myself, is experiencing significant non-response bias favoring Democrats.

When you’re seeing high-propensity Democrats [responding to polls] at twice the rate of high-propensity Republicans, when we know that the turnout on both sides would be roughly evenly paired, that’s a warning sign for polling in this cycle.

It seems like there’s some GOP internal polling saying that Republicans are worried about these states, because they are moving money around to triage certain races. I’m curious if you feel like they’re wrong to be making those decisions?

Absolutely not. They’re not wrong. You do have to take the polls somewhat seriously in the sense of, if you do get a poll that’s within the margin of error, I think you’re duty-bound to spend money in those places and not to ignore what could be a potential signal.

I think that control of the Senate comes down to Texas, so they’re right to be spending money there. If you just look at the amount of money being spent in Texas versus Kansas, obviously it’s a much, much bigger state, and you need to spend much more money.

But it’s not something along the lines of ‘the battleground has shifted. It’s a foregone conclusion. Democrats are going to win the Senate,’ and then the battleground entirely shifts to a state like Kansas or to Iowa, right? I don’t think we’re seeing that.

It sounds like the issue you have is how the broader public is interpreting these polls rather than the polls themselves?

The polls are, I think, intentionally inflating the size of the battleground. And to some extent it’s happening both ways. The polls showing a margin-of- error race in Minnesota is possible, right? I’m not as concerned about a polling error in Minnesota as I am in Kansas.

But because of the number of Democratic internals and because of the incentive of Democratic internals to show close races across the battleground, what you generally tend to see is more of an inflated sense of how big the battleground actually is. A lot of these races just break a certain way.

We’ve reported that Republicans are privately conceding that the House is lost. Is that your reading of the data too?

That’s the best reading of the data. That said, if there’s a three-point polling error or something, then I think it gets very, very tight and anything can happen. But I think that’s the most likely outcome.

What is your prediction for the number of Senate seats Republicans will have?

My prediction for both the probability and the seat count is 50-50. There’s a 50-50 chance Republicans hold the Senate. I think if they do, it’s with 50 seats, probably. But obviously, that can tilt very easily.

Which of these states do you think are going to flip for Democrats?

Alaska is clearly favored. I mean, I don’t know if it’s clearly favored, but I think it’s at least still Democrat. I think Texas is going to be very, very close. I just think the partisanship of the state is — people forget it’s a little bit more Republican than it was back in 2018. I think Republicans are probably being underestimated in Ohio because of the past Midwestern polling error.

At the same time, I would say it’s still uphill in Maine and Michigan to some degree. I think Susan Collins has really been the lone bright spot, at least in terms of the conventional wisdom, the narrative in the Senate for Republicans. I think she has a fighting chance, but I think Republicans are still probably under a 50% chance in both Michigan and Maine, just due to the nature of their partisan lean.

If at the end of all of this it is a real blue wave in the Senate, what will have happened to have made you wrong?

If that happens, we will have seen a level of depolarization in the electorate that we haven’t seen since around 2012. You really have to go back in history for a state like Kansas to flip.That would be pretty unique historically, where it’s a flip where you have an incumbent losing.

That’s the kind of thing that used to happen in Senate races a lot, and then things, starting with Trump, got a lot more polarized. So what that would mean is, maybe this is the start of a new political era. But I think it would be somewhat of a historic shift if that were to happen.

Politics

Ohio returns as a bellwether

Published

3 hours ago

October 19, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Ohio returns as a bellwether

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Politics

Inside the quiet money pullback — for both parties — in Georgia’s Senate race

Published

5 hours ago

October 19, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The money spigot is sputtering in Georgia’s Senate race amid growing expectations that Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff will win reelection.

The Senate Leadership Fund, Republicans’ top Senate super PAC, did not spend on broadcast television in the state last week — the first week they were off air in the race, according to tracking firm AdImpact. Neither did Democrats’ Senate Majority PAC.

Senate Majority PAC will also be dark again this week, the Chuck Schumer-aligned group shared first with Blue Light News. It was not immediately clear whether SLF would follow suit. The group declined to comment on their future spending plans in the state.

The spending slowdown underscores how dramatically Georgia’s place on the Senate map has shifted, as Ossoff maintains wide margins over Republican Rep. Mike Collins in public polling and fundraising. Georgia was expected to be one of the cycle’s most expensive and preeminent battlegrounds — now some of the biggest outside spenders are pulling back and turning their attention to more competitive races in redder territory.

The two major Senate super PACs have closely mirrored each other’s spending decisions in recent weeks, with neither fully retreating from the state. They still both technically have future ad reservations booked past this week, but those are not binding, leaving both sides with the flexibility to redirect money as they assess the Senate map. And with two weeks until Election Day and early voting already underway in Georgia, it’s unclear whether either will spend any more in the state.

“National Republicans are abandoning Mike Collins as he continues to show Georgians why he’s unelectable and unfit for office. We are committed to seeing Jon Ossoff through to victory as we come to the final days of this campaign,” SMP spokesperson Lauren French said in a statement.

Collins’ campaign, in a statement, said they were “grateful to every group that’s standing with Rep. Collins and welcome their continued support.”

“With early voting underway, he’s working every day to earn the vote of every Georgian, because Jon Ossoff is a radical leftist who wants to raise their taxes and make their families less safe. Rep. Collins will keep making that case until Ossoff is held accountable on Election Day,” Collins spokesperson Meyer Siegfried said in a statement.

Ossoff’s campaign didn’t respond to a request for comment.

SMP had pledged in the spring to spend $20 million on television for the race, but as of Friday had only spent or reserved $11.5 million, per AdImpact. SLF had announced an initial $44 million investment, but has so far only spent or reserved roughly $20 million.

No Going Back PAC, which is affiliated with President Donald Trump’s MAGA Inc. super PAC, has also dramatically scaled back its own spending on the race over the last two weeks, according to AdImpact.

Republican operatives are still monitoring Georgia’s governor’s race, where recent public polling shows GOP nominee Rick Jackson slightly ahead of Democratic nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms. Republicans believe Jackson’s strength could keep the Senate race closer than currently expected.

But they have grown increasingly pessimistic about their prospects of flipping Georgia’s Senate seat, as Collins trails Ossoff in the polls and the overall environment for the GOP continues to grow more difficult. SLF’s decision to go dark last week — so close to the election — raises questions about how much more the group will ultimately invest in the state.

“Every dollar Schumer spends in Georgia is one not spent on offense in red states. Republicans’ financial advantage doesn’t just show up in more ads, it keeps Dems on defense,” a person familiar with SLF’s spending plans told Blue Light News.

Ossoff also holds a massive fundraising advantage over Collins, who had just over $1 million cash on hand as of Oct. 1, giving Ossoff a major financial cushion in the final stretch even before the major Senate super PACs pulled back their spending.

The GOP has been triaging races across the map: SLF shifted money out of North Carolina, another perennial battleground, while moving resources toward defending GOP-held seats in states like Kansas and South Carolina, where the Senate contests have become increasingly competitive.

Still, even as the money going into Georgia has continued to slow, Trump appears to be prioritizing the longtime battleground.

At a rally in Dalton on Friday, he urged voters to “pretend” he’s on the ballot, while praising Collins and the state’s GOP governor’s nominee, Rick Jackson.

Meredith Lee Hill and Andrew Howard contributed.