The Supreme Court Weighs in on Midterms

Added: 2026-05-07

[00:00:08]Welcome everyone to another episode of the election show with Sherry Jacobus and Eric Ham. Unfortunately, my lovely co-host Sherry is not with us today. We do hope that she will be back in the chair sooner rather than later. We are certainly missing her and do wish her well.

[00:00:26]Before we get started, let's make sure that all of you who are watching, who are listening, be sure to click that like button and that subscribe button.

[00:00:35]That certainly helps us to gain more followers and also make sure that we are getting our message out to all of you, those prospective voters who are watching, who are listening, and who are certainly engaged about what is happening as we barrel towards the upcoming midterm elections. So, today, like always, we had a show that we were going to talk about a couple of key issues, namely Florida and Texas, but we just got some breaking news in from the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court has ruled in a consequential Voting Rights Act that will certainly have an impact on how we look at elections going forward.

[00:01:21]What we are seeing now is that the Supreme Court has ruled today in a case focused on Louisiana. And what they did was they struck down Louisiana's second majority black congressional district in a decision that certainly could open the door for Republican led states to eliminate black and Latino electoral districts that tend to favor Democrats, which could affect the balance of power in the upcoming midterm elections in Congress.

[00:01:52]The ruling was a 6-3 majority for this conservatives which found that the Democratic district in Louisiana, which is represented by Cleo Fields, relied too heavily on race. It was a decision that the majority decision was written by Justice Samuel Alito, which said that basically there needs to no longer be a a reliance on race when gerrymandering or when when shaping districts. The Louisiana Attorney General, Liz Murrill, has already applauded the ruling by the Supreme Court saying, "Quote, the Supreme Court has ended Louisiana's long-running nightmare of federal courts coercing the state to draw a racially discriminatory map."

[00:02:49]That was always unconstitutional, and this is a seismic decision reaffirming equal protection under our nation's laws. Republican groups all across the country are hailing this decision by the Supreme Court, as well as the White House, that has said that they too are in support of this decision. In fact, the top House Republican has hailed the ruling saying the Supreme Court made clear that our elections should not be decided by voters, not should be decided by voters, not engineered through unconstitutional mandates. And so, what we are seeing here is this many believe, even including Derrick Johnson, president of the NAACP, said that this ruling is a devastating blow.

[00:03:37]The White House also supports the decision saying this is a complete and total victory for American voters. The color of one's skin should not dictate which congressional district you belong in. We commend the court for putting an end to the unconstitutional abuse of the Voting Rights Act and protecting civil rights.

[00:03:58]So, those are some of the statements that we have. In fact, Justice Elena Kagan, who wrote the minority decision, which we are told we just got the the the court ruling, so we haven't had a chance to actually go through the entirety of the the ruling from the Supreme Court, but Justice Elena Kagan, who wrote the minority, which is actually bigger than the majority decision itself, says the consequences are likely to be far-reaching and grave.

[00:04:30]Today's decision renders Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act all but a dead letter.

[00:04:38]Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote for the conservatives on the court, said that the that the the case it was an unconstitutional gerrymander.

[00:04:49]And Chief Justice John Roberts, who of course we know has been no stranger in his condemnation of the Voting Rights Act, described the district as a snake that stretches more than 200 miles to link parts of Shreveport, Alexandria, Lafayette, and Baton Rouge. So, clearly, what we are seeing right now is this is certainly going to have an impact just as a week ago we of course got that vote in Virginia where the the state decided to actually gerrymander giving Democrats a net gain of potentially four to six seats.

[00:05:30]However, we know that a court has already intervened and actually blocked the state from moving forward with that gerrymandering effort. Now, of course, this has not stopped other states from also moving forward with their plans to also gerrymander. In fact, in the state of Florida, Republican Governor Ron DeSantis is moving forward with his plan to redistrict the state, which he hopes will give Florida an additional four more congressional seats. Now, of course, all of this comes at a time when we are seeing that Democrats are winning special election after special election.

[00:06:11]In fact, polling data now shows that in generic ballots, Democrats are leading Republicans in the race for who will control both the House and Senate. In fact, the Cook Political Report now gives Democrats the actual lead in the Senate. So, at one time where many thought the Senate would not be in play, it is looking more and more likely that the Senate too could actually shift hands.

[00:06:40]This ruling by the Supreme Court, as well as a judge's decision to strike down the the the voting referendum in Virginia, as well as Ron DeSantis's plans to move forward with gerrymandering the state of Florida, Republicans are hoping hoping that will be enough to actually get them over the finish line with their majorities intact in November. However, what we have seen over and over is Republicans led by the MAGA man himself, Donald Trump, continue [clears throat] to trail with their approval ratings at anemic and historic lows. In fact, President Donald Trump, for the first time, is losing a majority of support on the issue of his handling of the economy.

[00:07:30]The war in Iran continues to plague the nation with gas prices rising rapidly above normal rates at this time of the year.

[00:07:41]And as we move closer and closer to summer, gas prices could become increasingly higher, making it more difficult for Americans to pay basic gas prices at the pump. And it will be the party in power who will certainly certainly feel the brunt of as a result of that. So, all of this is shaping out right now as we see. And while Republicans are certainly celebrating this win as a victory, what we continue to see is polling data shows that Democrats are being powered not only by the strength of their candidates themselves, but also with voters who are becoming increasingly fed up with Republicans. In fact, if you go to the state of Texas, and Texas has been a state that Democrats have been eyeing for years now. Every two to four years, Democrats believe that they have the secret sauce to actually take back the state of Texas. But in this new poll, what we see here is James Talarico is actually leading both of the Republican candidates in a new poll that shows Talarico leading respectively by four and five points against the potential challengers Ken Paxton, who we know is the attorney general for the state of Texas, and incumbent US Senator John Cornyn. Now, of course, both of those Republicans are still locked in a very heated race that went to a runoff, and Talarico will certainly face the winner.

[00:09:22]Now, what is certainly striking about this poll, while Talarico is in the lead, he still will need to do yeoman's work to be able to win back those Jasmine Crockett voters. We know that there was a lot of bad bad blood in that race, and in order for Talarico to be successful, he will need every vote that he can get, recognizing that Republicans are certainly going to unify behind whichever one of these two Republicans come out of that race. And so, right now, what we're seeing here is while this is looking more and more like a competitive race for Democrats, what is still number that needs to be watched is James Tallarico has yet to reach that wanted 50% number and he will need to be able to do that in order to secure victory. Now he still has an enormous amount of time to be able to get there, but unless or until he does or can, this is still going to be a race that many believe that Republicans will actually take in the end. So what we are seeing here is Democrats cannot rest on their laurels.

[00:10:34]They cannot get They cannot get complacent. They cannot get comfortable.

[00:10:40]We see that Republicans are going to fight and they are going to fight with every being fiber that they have in their political arsenal and toolkit to ensure that they maintain control of power.

[00:10:58]Not only in Washington, but in also many of these down ballot races. The decision that came down from the Supreme Court today likely will not have an an immediate impact on many of these races that we are seeing shaping up right now from the midterm elections, but they will certainly certainly play out and have an impact on the presidential race going forward. And and as we see more and more Republican states eliminate majority black and Latino districts, we could see of course a race that not only is going to color the map, but more importantly eliminate the voice of many voters who have already felt voiceless and helpless as a result of many of these rulings that we have seen from courts trying to inject their say, their opinion in our democracy. And as we know, it is the ballot box, which has always been not only a hallmark of democracy, but sacrosanct in terms of bolstering and fostering in a truly independent nation. And right now we see over and over that is becoming increasingly under attack. So this decision by the Supreme Court today, while many expected that we would see it play out, it still is certainly one that could have tremendous tremendous impact on what the color and tone of these races are going to be. But what cannot be what cannot be dismissed what cannot what what is unequivocal, however, is the fact that what we're seeing right now is that President Donald Trump with his poll numbers cratering and cratering rapidly, it is becoming a race that is looking more and more like it is Democrats to lose, which as we have seen that they have even have gained even greater success in many of these red districts, ruby red districts all across the country. And we have been seeing that, which makes clear that right now Democrats are actually beating the spread. And so in many of these races where it looked like it was going to require Democrats to be able to win by 15, 20, we're seeing now in many of these races it is Democrats that are winning by 20, 25 points. And so where at one time it seemed like Democrats would not be able to meet that spread, what we have seen over and over in in races all across this country from school school board races to uh special elections to replace a Senate seats to mayoral races, uh Democrats are actually beating those spreads and winning. And so while the the the state of Florida under the leadership of Ron DeSantis is certainly going to make every effort he can to draw those districts, it still remains to be seen if the the the GOP brand will be enough to actually give Republicans a decided advantage.

[00:14:19]Because even in the state of Florida, we see now where uh there have been a number of races that Democrats have come out on top in in in in large areas where Republicans once controlled with an iron grip. And so I think this is now going to be not necessarily a jump ball, but Republicans making every effort to try to get back to parity.

[00:14:49]And that's going to be very hard for them to do considering Donald Trump continues to get in his own way. In fact, in the aftermath of the shooting that took place at the Washington Hilton that hosted [clears throat] the annual White House Correspondents Dinner uh last week, many thought once again that was an opportunity for our political discourse to to to find an offering to be less hostile, less caustic, less offensive.

[00:15:26]But here we are once again with Donald Trump today on Truth Social posting a picture of himself saying no more Mr. Nice Guy.

[00:15:37]And while this was aimed at Iran, we cannot underscore the fact that this is not only how Donald Trump sees his enemies abroad, but this is also how Donald Trump sees his enemies at home.

[00:15:54]And Donald Trump it will certainly do anything within his power to ensure that he maintains and controls his fingers on all levers of authority in Washington from the Supreme Court to Congress to of course the White House. And so while people may say, well this is just the president engaging in war with an enemy in the Middle East, we also must remember this is also how Donald Trump sees American citizens here at home in the United States if in fact they do not support him or his party.

[00:16:38]And this is why the midterm elections this year are going to be so seismic, so important because again this is another barometer of the health, the well-being, and the sustainability of American democracy. And that is important it that the race that the elections must be fair, they must be free, and more importantly they must be without without government taint and influence, which is why we see over and over such rulings by the Supreme Court.

[00:17:17]And it just begs the question, what in fact are they doing? Are they truly trying to create a color blind society where everyone's voice counts?

[00:17:32]Or are they trying to place their fingers on the scale to determine who actually gets to wield and hold power?

[00:17:41]Often times many Americans simply do not know the answers to that. And that in and of itself is a problem. And so that is why I think you are seeing now for the first time many Americans including conservatives, including MAGA Republicans who are making their way to the exit because while they certainly want to wield the control power, they don't want to do it like this in terms of what we're seeing from President Donald Trump with his no more Mr. Nice Guy routine and stick.

[00:18:16]They want to win, but they want to win fairly. They don't want to win and have America basically become another banana republic. This is not what Americans want. This is not what they signed up for. And this is why we are seeing President Donald Trump continue to lose over and over at the ballot box and why he is making every effort to try to to pull back power and the ability to control elections because he knows that is the last bastion of democracy that will actually speak and speak loud and determine who is in and who is out.

[00:19:05]Thanks everybody for tuning in today.

[00:19:07]Hopefully, fingers crossed, Sherry will be back in the seat next week. And once again, be sure to hit that like button.

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