Democrats Won’t Save Voting Rights Without Building Black and Brown Political Power

August 6 will mark 61 years since the Voting Rights Act was passed. In 2026, the landmark federal law that prohibited racial discrimination in voting, and thus enfranchised hundreds of thousands of Black, Latino, Asian, and Indigenous Americans who had been denied their voting rights through voter suppression, lies in shambles thanks to a right-wing Supreme Court. The proactive response from Democratic establishment and progressive movement leaders has been paltry at best. Congressional districts across the country, and especially in places like Alabama and Florida that have had robust Black representation, have been eliminated. Some Black candidates find themselves in primaries against white colleagues. And this can only get worse without proactive strategy. If we’re ever going to rebuild a multi-racial democracy, especially where progressive politics thrive, building up Black and brown political power is essential.

Indeed, commitment to the long-haul fight is something the modern day iteration of conservative movement has excelled at. Though it could arguably be traced to the 1970s, the GOP really strengthened into the party most Americans recognize today during the 1980s. At a 1980 gathering of white evangelical leaders, where Rev. Jerry Falwell, Sr. and soon-to-be-elected Republican candidate for president Ronald Reagan were in attendance, GOP strategist Paul Weyrich gave a speech that re-animated voter suppression as strategy: “I don’t want everybody to vote,” Weyrich said. “As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.”

Weyrich is probably the most influential conservative many Americans have never heard of. He coined the phrase “moral majority”, and he went on to co-found the Heritage Foundation, Free Congress Foundation, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), and Falwell’s Moral Majority. And, until he grew old in the early 2000s, Weyrich hosted weekly strategy sessions with right-wing leaders. His words at that 1980 conference laid the groundwork for the modern conservative movement’s 40-year charge to ensure their white, Christian agenda was passed. And the only way to do that was if the “voting populace goes down”.

GOP legislators would go on to pass voter suppression legislation under innocuous messaging. Photo ID laws were to “protect against voter fraud”, purging hundreds of thousands of people from the voter rolls was “list maintenance”, and closing down polling sites last minute in specific neighborhoods was due to “budget pressures”. The cherry on top was redistricting Congressional, legislative, and even occasionally municipal districts into sections resembling pieces fit for a large jigsaw puzzle. All of these tactics “coincidentally” knock down the voting population of Black and brown people, as well as disabled and young people.

In recent years, the nation has seen just how ruthless the GOP has become through the escalation of voter suppression tactics. Take, for example, voter list purges to terrorize election workers in Michigan or Georgia in the 2020 election. When that wasn’t enough, GOP electeds and political leaders built a legal effort to stop the transfer of power and the certification of the 2020 presidential election results. And now the latest move: redrawing Congressional maps mid-decade (as opposed to every 10 years) in a bid to keep control of Congress ahead of the 2026 election. The greater the possibility they could lose to a secular multi-racial democracy, the more the GOP abandons democratic norms.

I suggest it’s time for some ruthless and strategic determination amongst Democratic leadership and key movement leaders. The first move would be funding. At the April 2026 America Votes conference, a convening of progressive movement organizations, donors, strategists, candidates, and elected officials, there was concern expressed— especially from many Black-led grassroots organizations—that there was not enough funding for them to continue to do the necessary work to meet the moment. Anecdotal evidence reflects data: In recent reports, the uptick of funding to larger Black-led organizations was strongest between 2020-2022, while smaller Black-led organizations saw little to no increase. 

Second, fund ongoing voter registration and education, engagement, and turnout before September. I sat in on one political briefing earlier this year, where a major progressive political organization recounted the millions they got to facilitate turnout in late September. For political strategists and organizers, that is too late to reach the people we need. In many cases, voting has been going on for weeks. Meanwhile, between 2020-2024, the Republican Party has gained more registrations and the Democrats have lost more registrations. More people are choosing to register as independents, if they register at all. And increasingly, younger voters, especially younger Black voters, are less willing to vote for Democrats, for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is disenchantment with policy and politics. All this can be addressed while you are talking to people in their communities.

Finally, we need to invest in shoring up and protecting voting rights at the state level. Virginia is the first state in the South to pass a Voting Rights Act similar to the 1965 federal legislation. State law now requires local election officials to do a pre-clearance before making election-related decisions, such as consolidating or closing polling places, changing district boundaries, or preventing non-English speakers from voting. Other states, like California, New York, Colorado, Illinois, and Maryland, have similar legislation. More states across the country need to pass this to further protect voters.

Some say one way we can effectively fight GOP efforts is to redraw Congressional districts mid-decade. While I am all for fighting fire with fire, that cannot be the only solution, especially when the places Democrats can do that would likely yield more white elected officials than candidates of color. And while I agree that one less GOP-er holding a seat is good, taking actions that aim to increase Black and brown political representation is better for an inclusive, multi-racial democracy. Research shows that the more Black people elected to public office at the local level, the more funds were spent by municipal governments in improving municipality infrastructure (e.g. fire protection, water utilities, schools), and that benefited long-neglected Black neighborhoods and moderate- and lower-income white areas as well.

In the project to rebuild a progressive, multi-racial democracy, you can’t do that without Black and brown political power as a major part of it.