Black voter turnout drives historic Southern Democratic gains
High participation in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi helped Democrats retain seats despite redistricting efforts and Supreme Court changes.
By Priya Marino ·
Keisha Lance Bottoms won the Georgia governorship on Tuesday, becoming the first Black woman elected to that office in U.S. history. Her victory was part of a wider Democratic performance in the South that party leaders attributed to a sharp increase in Black voter turnout. The results challenged Republican redistricting maps and the Supreme Court's recent ruling that weakened the Voting Rights Act.
U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures retained his Alabama congressional seat despite a new district that reduced the voting-age Black population from 48% to 40%. Figures, 41, defeated his Republican opponent in a district President Donald Trump won by double digits in 2024. Heavy turnout in Montgomery, a predominantly Black city, drove his campaign, with polling lines stretching blocks for much of Election Day.
Polling data indicated a substantial shift in support among Black men. In Georgia, approximately 90% of Black men voted for Bottoms, compared to about 75% who supported Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. Overall, about 90% of Black voters backed the Democratic candidate in their local U.S. House race, up from about 80% in the previous cycle.
In North Carolina, U.S. Rep. Don Davis won reelection in a district Republicans had redrawn to favor their party. In Mississippi, Scott Colom entered a razor-thin battle with Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith. Mississippi has not sent a new Democratic senator to Washington since the Jim Crow era. Colom stated that local volunteers and voters were not surprised by the competitive nature of the race.
LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, said the surge was a response to perceived racism in federal policies. She noted that the group's survival has been based on its ability to resist and respond to these forces. The turnout surge helped Democrats hold seats that Congressional Black Caucus leaders had warned could be lost, with potential losses appearing well short of the 19 seats they feared.
Several Black candidates fell short of upsets in other states. In Florida, Angie Nixon lost her Senate race by fewer than 3 percentage points. In Louisiana, Julia Letlow won the Senate seat by fewer than 2 percentage points against Jamie Davis. Davis raised more than $4 million in individual contributions but received no funding from the Democratic National Committee or the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris called the results a wake-up call for the Democratic Party. She argued that the party failed to put sufficient resources into Southern states due to a misdirected perception of voters. Stacey Abrams, who lost the Georgia governor's race in 2022, said the outcomes validate her long-standing argument for investing in Southern and Sun Belt states.
