As a sweeping mid-decade redistricting campaign threatens to erode Black power in Congress, Rep. Yvette Clarke, a Brooklyn Democrat, is leading the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC).<\/p>\n
\u201cVoting rights is the North Star of the Congressional Black Caucus,\u201d Clarke told Spectrum News.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
Brooklyn Rep. Yvette Clarke is leading the Congressional Black Caucus through the current mid-decade redistricting fight
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Clarke says one-third of CBC members could lose their seats to redistricting
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To offset potential losses, Democrats are working with leaders in blue states, including New York, to redraw maps in their favor<\/p>\n
The CBC is attempting to mobilize voters and apply economic pressure ahead of the November midterms<\/p>\n
The CBC currently has 58 members and is at risk of losing 19 seats to redistricting, according to Clarke.<\/p>\n
Rep. Shomari Figures of Alabama is among the one-third of CBC members whose seats are now jeopardized by redistricting.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s value in having representation and leadership at all levels that doesn\u2019t look the same,\u201d Figures said.<\/p>\n
To offset such potential losses, Democrats are working with leadership in blue states, including New York, to redraw maps in their favor.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo create a scenario where the congressional seats are hardened in a position that makes it only possible for one party to rule. That\u2019s a slide into authoritarianism.\u201d Clarke said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to do everything we can within the laws and regulations of each and every state.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, most of the gerrymandered maps benefiting Democrats will not come into play until 2028.<\/p>\n
For November\u2019s midterms, Clarke says the CBC is pursuing a multi-pronged approach that includes appealing new maps in court and mobilizing Black voters through the CBC PAC. The group, led by Queens Rep. Gregory Meeks, is pouring money into partnerships with online content creators.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to be where the people are in every facet of their lives,\u201d Clarke explained.<\/p>\n
The CBC is also looking to apply economic pressure, having recently obstructed college athletics legislation and by supporting the NAACP\u2019s call for Black athletes to boycott schools in the SEC.<\/p>\n
\u201cI totally support what the CBC is doing. Now, obviously, those athletes have a choice, right? But what do you want the CBC to do? Right? I mean, they\u2019re being gerrymandered out of existence,\u201d Rep. Jared Moskowitz of Florida said.<\/p>\n
While CBC members are at risk of losing their seats, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, of Brooklyn, is poised to potentially become the first Black Speaker of the House.<\/p>\n
Jeffries has publicly promised \u201cmaximum warfare\u201d in the redistricting fight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As a sweeping mid-decade redistricting campaign threatens to erode Black power in Congress, Rep. Yvette Clarke, a Brooklyn…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":241136,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[109,116,25,2659,9,24,13304,11,10,49,51,50,12,112,87,45797,27],"class_list":["post-241135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-app-local-state-politics","tag-app-ny-state-of-politics","tag-app-top-stories","tag-election","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-elections","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-news","tag-ny-state-of-politics","tag-politics","tag-shannon-ryan","tag-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}