Washington Post: Following Gutting Of Voting Rights Act, “Barnes Is Pledging To Enter Wisconsin Into The Redistricting Fight As Soon As He Can”

The Nation & Cap Times Editors: “Mandela Barnes Has The Right Idea.”

Since day one of the campaign, Mandela Barnes has consistently called for redrawing Wisconsin’s unfair congressional maps.

As Donald Trump and Republicans across the country rush to disenfranchise Black voters and draw unfair maps to try to rig the midterm elections and stay in power, Lt. Governor Barnes believes it is time to fight back here in Wisconsin.

Read more below.

Washington Post: Early Brief

  • Republicans aren’t the only ones eyeing a redraw of their districts ahead of 2028. Mandela Barnes, the former Democratic lieutenant governor of Wisconsin who is running for governor this cycle, told us on Wednesday that if he wins his race this year and Democrats flip both the Wisconsin Senate and assembly, he will push to redraw the state’s congressional maps in 2028.
  • 
“If we have the majority in the assembly and Senate, we are drawing new maps,” he said. When asked about the uphill climb to flip both chambers, Barnes pointedly said, if the party can pull it off, “We’re doing a new congressional map.”
  • It’s a pledge that highlights that Democratic anger about redistricting right now — as part of his primary campaign to win over the party’s faithful, Barnes is pledging to enter Wisconsin into the redistricting fight as soon as he can.

The Nation: The Demolition of the Voting Rights Act | Editors

  • But the fight cannot stop there.
  • The Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Mandela Barnes has the right idea: If elected with a Democratic legislature, he promises to move immediately in 2027 to redraw the battleground state’s congressional maps, which are currently gerrymandered to give Republicans a 6–2 advantage.
  • “Red states are being given a free pass to rig their maps by disenfranchising Black voters,” Barnes said. “We can’t sit this fight out.”

Cap Times: Wisconsin has a duty to counter GOP gerrymandering | Editorial

  • Ultimately, however, Wisconsin’s gerrymandered maps need to be addressed head-on. The Wisconsin Supreme Court should turn a more serious eye to this issue.
  • Additionally, if a Democrat wins the governorship in November, and if he or she has a Democratic Legislature to work with, the drawing of fair maps must be an immediate focus.
  • Former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, one of several Democratic gubernatorial contenders who objected loudly to the U.S. Supreme Court’s evisceration of the Voting Rights Act, put it well when he promised to make fair maps a priority: “Red states are being given a free pass to rig their maps by disenfranchising Black voters. We can’t sit this fight out.”