Strategic manipulation of district boundaries dilutes the Black vote and threatens the existence of White Democrats in Southern politics.

More than 50 years ago, the Voting Rights Act allowed for the creation of “majority-minority” districts in order to tackle racial gerrymandering in the South. In new research which focuses on South Carolina, Damion Waymer finds that while some of these Congressional districts have been drawn in a way which increases Black representation, still others are done so with the opposite effect. In addition, gerrymandering in South Carolina has also led to the almost complete marginalization of White Democrats in the state.