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Texas GOP Rep.Wesley Hunt claimed that efforts by Southern states to eliminate majority-Black districts following the Supreme Court’s historic ruling do not represent a new era of Jim Crow.
During a House Judiciary Committee hearing held on Wednesday (May 13), Hunt denounced claims by Democrats that redrawing congressional districts to limit Black voting power constituted racism, according to theGrio.
“I’m seeing a lot of talk from my colleagues on the left as we shift toward this reinvigorated talk about Jim Crow and the path to this country. And as someone who is a direct descendant of a slave, as someone whose great, great-grandfather was born on a plantation, I can assure you, slavery is over,” Hunt said. “Jim Crow is dead. When I go anywhere, I don’t see any ‘White Only’ signs. I don’t, I promise you. I am a Black man that is representing a white-majority district in Texas.”
Following a Supreme Court ruling last month striking down a majority-Black district in Louisiana and weakening Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, several Southern states are proposing new congressional maps that critics say would weaken Black voting power and favor Republicans politically.
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) described the ruling as “Jim Crow 2.0” during a May 2 interview with CNN’s Victor Blackwell, warning that the proposed maps in several states would eliminate several majority-Black districts
Most recently, the U.S. Supreme Court voted on Monday (May 11) to lift an injunction requiring Alabama to keep its current congressional map — which includes two majority-Black districts — until the 2030 census, allowing the legislature to pass a new map that reduces that number to one district, according to Politico.
Last week, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed a bill into law splitting Memphis, which is about 63% Black, into three districts, forcing Black residents into the neighboring, majority-white Nashville area.
“It’s devastating,” Yvette Clark, Chair of Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), told NBC News on Tuesday (May 12), adding that as much as one-third of the caucus’s 58 members could be impacted by redistricting efforts. “People have sacrificed so much to make this a more perfect union. And here we are, in 2026, seeing this massive regression in all the gains that have been made. It’s painful.”
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