Dana Black: Showing the importance of majority-Black districts

The Indiana primary election is over, and MAGA Republicans are alive and well.

The president who helped elevate gas prices to $5 a gallon and significantly increase the cost of living for all citizens continues to have sway over Hoosier Republicans.

Those of us on the left will always ask, why would soybean farmers who have lost their customer base because of tariffs or people who live in rural areas with little access to emergent or maternal healthcare continue to vote against their interests?

What we get wrong when asking the question is not realizing how committed MAGA is to making sure Black and brown folks’ voting power is diluted to protect white supremacy.

On April 29, a 6-3 Supreme Court decision in Louisiana v. Callais gutted Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, opening the door for states to enact discriminatory voting maps and laws.

The decision doesn’t formally strike down Section 2. Instead, it changes the multi-step framework, called the Gingles test, that the Supreme Court established in the 1980s to parse the law’s language and decide challenges.

Since the ruling, the Louisiana governor has halted the primary election to redraw the congressional maps to eliminate two Black majority districts after absentee ballots were sent out and voting had already begun.

The majority of the Indiana state senators who voted against redistricting lost their bid for reelection to MAGA-supported primary candidates on May 5.

MAGA wanted to redistrict the one Black congressman Indiana sends to D.C. They will tell you it was for partisan reasons, but the results would have been the same, diluting the Black vote.

Despite the fact that those state senators listened to the majority of their constituents, they paid the price for standing against MAGA.

Many of you suggest district lines shouldn’t be drawn by race. But consider Statehouse Democratic candidates Coumba Kebe for House District 26; Joel Levi for House District 37; Demetrice Hicks and Pastor David Greene for Senate District 29; and Tiffanie Ditlevson, a Republican candidate for Senate District 31.

All are Black candidates whose districts include parts of Hamilton County — where Black residents make up less than 5% of the population — and all lost their primary races.

Hamilton County residents had the opportunity to select a Black candidate in a primary election and chose not to.

Democracy says Hamilton County voters used their voices to vote for the candidate they felt most represented their values; why shouldn’t Black communities have that same opportunity?

Republicans who voted for redistricting would be more than willing to crack Congressional District 7, which encompasses most of Marion County, to render the Black vote mute.

That is why Congressman André Carson’s win in that district is so significant. With a Black population of more than 30%, results showed Carson earning more than 63% of votes.

Given that this was billed as potentially his toughest primary yet, the margin speaks volumes.

This wasn’t a weak field. It included Destiny Wells, the former Democratic nominee for Indiana attorney general, secretary of state, and a candidate for state party chair; and George Hornedo, a party insider who ran on generational change.

However, both Hornedo and Wells should have done more to speak directly to the Black voter base when the SCOTUS decision came down. But they didn’t.

Democracy says residents in District 7 made the choice to send Carson back to Congress for his 10th term. And that is the way it should be.•

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Black is former deputy chairwoman for engagement for the Indiana Democratic Party
and a former candidate for the Indiana House. Send comments to [email protected].

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