The Blue Tsunami Was the Revenge of the Black South

Voters in the 2026 midterm elections issued a stunning rebuke of the Republican Party on Tuesday, delivering Democrats control of both the House and the Senate, in addition to a majority of state legislative chambers, governorships, attorney general offices, and more. A Democratic victory of this magnitude—which turned even staunchly red states like Texas blue—hasn’t been seen in generations. And a new memo circulated among top Democratic National Committee officials on Wednesday acknowledges that voters of color were “the driving force” of this massive win.

The feat is all the more astounding because the voters of color who powered Democrats’ success were set up to fail. In July 2025, Donald Trump’s Justice Department started pressuring Texas officials to break up electoral districts where Black and Latino residents made up a majority of eligible voters. In August, Trump declared that Republicans were “entitled” to five more congressional seats and called on the state to redraw district maps to hand the GOP a structural advantage.

Texas, led by Gov. Greg Abbott (who just lost his reelection campaign) and Attorney General Ken Paxton (who just lost his campaign for Senate), did as it was told. And at Trump’s urging, several more Republican-led states soon redrew their district maps, aiming to maximize partisan gains at the expense of meaningful representation for voters. Experts predicted a precipitous drop-off of people of color in elected office, and warned that 20 of the Congressional Black Caucus’ 62 members could lose their seats.

Then, in April 2026, the Supreme Court poured fuel on the fire by eviscerating the Voting Rights Act in Louisiana v. Callais. Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the Republican majority that district maps violate the VRA only if there is an “objective likelihood” of “intentional racial discrimination.” He stressed that maps drawn to achieve partisan goals easily pass that test, “even if it so happens that the most loyal Democrats happen to be Black Democrats.” And he emphasized that restoring the political power of people of color targeted with gerrymanders is unlawful, because that too is “intentional race-based conduct.” In other words, Alito gave Republicans the go-ahead to deny Black people an equal opportunity to participate in the political process.

Many advocates feared the worst: Between the 2024 and 2026 elections, Republican-led states reassigned over 25 million people, or roughly 7.5 percent of all Americans, into different congressional districts. One report concluded that “the only realistic path” for Democrats to avoid decades of Republican rule—and for Black voters to have any shot at electing candidates who represent their interests—would be “a rare ‘blue wave’ election scenario” where “voters turn out at overwhelming rates.”

Tuesday was not just a wave. It was a tsunami. Preliminary data from the University of Florida Election Lab indicates that approximately 48.8 percent of eligible voters participated in the 2026 midterm election, making it the second-highest midterm turnout in over a century. Other early reports indicate that Black voter turnout in particular soared, rivaling the numbers of Barack Obama’s first presidential run.

And Black folks are mad as hell: In a poll of 700 Black women shortly before the election, for example, 87 percent said that the nullification of the Voting Rights Act and the surge of racially discriminatory attacks on the franchise made them more motivated to vote. A New York Times analysis of 2026 midterm trends shows that 91 percent of Black voters supported Democrats—a considerably higher amount than that of any other racial group.

Republican elites underestimated Black voter turnout and overestimated their own level of support. Now, instead of collapsing, Black representation is expected to remain relatively steady in Congress. Black candidates made historic inroads in statewide elections for offices like the Senate, which are not affected by redrawing individual district maps; and in the House, Black candidates won many contested seats, gerrymandering be damned.

With Tuesday’s election of Juliana Stratton, for example, there will be three Black women concurrently serving in the Senate. For reference, Kamala Harris was only the second Black woman ever to be elected to the Senate, and between 2017 and 2021, she was the only one serving. As more ballots are tallied, Mississippi also appears on the cusp of sending a Black Democrat, Scott Colom, to the Senate. The last Black man Mississippi elected to the Senate was born into slavery in 1841.

In Louisiana, the state that fought for racial gerrymandering in Callais, Republican lawmakers responded to the Supreme Court’s decision by eliminating one of the state’s two majority-Black districts in order to send five Republicans to the House of Representatives. They may send only three: Rep. Troy Carter, a Black Democrat, handily held his seat in the sole remaining majority-Black district. And in two other districts, Black women Democratic candidates are maintaining narrow leads and advancing to runoff elections next month.

Alabama imposed a new map after Callais too, intending to dilute the Black vote and oust Rep. Shomari Figures, a Black Democrat. Figures won reelection by 8 points. Overall, Republicans are expected to pick up, at most, three of the 15 seats they targeted in Trump and Alito’s redistricting scheme.

Although the 2026 midterm election results are incredible, Americans should not be fooled into thinking Callais wasn’t so bad after all. Yes, as per usual, Black people pulled off something extraordinary. But also as per usual, we shouldn’t have to. Democracy can’t survive if it depends on persistently overcoming enormous racist obstacles. The good news is: Black voters gave Congress the numbers it needs to curb the power of the court and protect the power of the people.