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Majority-minority districts

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Amajority-minority district is a district in which a racial minority group or groups comprise a majority of the district's total population. Using data provided in the United States Census Bureau's 2024 American Community Survey estimates and based on districts enacted after the 2020 census,there were 148 U.S. House majority-minority districts. This represented approximately34% of the nation's 435 U.S. House districts.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

States may create majority-minority districts in order to prevent the dilution of minorities' voting strength in compliance with theVoting Rights Act of 1965. Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act mandates that no "standard, practice, or procedure shall be imposed or applied by any State or political subdivision to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color."Thornburg v. Gingles, a case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1986, established a three-part test for proving whether vote dilution in violation of the Voting Rights Act has occurred in a district or districts.[7]

The page below contains:

Majority-minority districts in 2024

This section provides demographic data for each majority-minority district in the United States House of Representatives as of 2024. This data was made available September 2025. According to theUnited States Census Bureau, the district boundaries below correspond to those of the119th Congress, which convened on January 3, 2025.[8] For the purposes of this article, a majority-minority district is defined as any district in which a minority group or collection of minority groups comprise a simple majority of the district's population.

HIGHLIGHTS
  • In 2024, there were 148 majority-minority districts in the United States House of Representatives in 28 states, and 22 states had no majority-minority districts.
  • Democrats represented 122 of the districts, and Republicans represented 26 of the districts in 2024.
  • California had the most majority-minority districts with 44, or 85% of its 52 total congressional districts.
  • Texas had the second-most with 24, or 63% of its 38 total congressional districts.


    • Democratic districts

    The demographic breakdown in Democratic majority-minority districts was:

    • Hispanic or Latino: 34.0%
    • White: 29.4%
    • Black or African American: 20.1%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native: 0.4%
    • Asian: 10.8%
    • Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander: 0.3%
    • Other: 0.01%
    • Multiple races: 4.3%
    Republican districts

    The demographic breakdown in Republican majority-minority districts was:

    • Hispanic or Latino: 43.5%
    • White: 38.1%
    • Black or African American: 8.3%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native: 0.3%
    • Asian: 5.8%
    • Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander: 0.1%
    • Other: 0.6%
    • Multiple races: 3.3%

    See the table below for further details.[1]

    Background

    See also:Voting Rights Act

    Section 2 of theVoting Rights Act of 1965 mandates that electoral district lines cannot be drawn in such a manner as to "improperly dilute minorities' voting power."[9]

    “No voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure shall be imposed or applied by any State or political subdivision to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color.[10]”
    —Voting Rights Act of 1965[11]

    Federal law permits states and other political subdivisions to create majority-minority districts in order to comply withSection 2 of theVoting Rights Act.[12]

    Thornburg v. Gingles

    See also:Thornburg v. Gingles

    In 1982, the North Carolina state legislature approved redistricting plans for theNorth Carolina State Senate and theNorth Carolina House of Representatives. The maps were challenged inUnited States District Court. The challengers alleged that the new maps "impaired black citizens' ability to elect representatives of their choice in violation of Section 2 of theVoting Rights Act." The district court ruled that six legislative districts violated the Voting Rights Act "by diluting the power of the black vote." The decision was appealed to theSupreme Court of the United States.[13][14][15]

    On June 30, 1986, the high court ruled unanimously inThornburg v. Gingles that five of the aforementioned six districts "discriminated against blacks by diluting the power of their collective vote." JusticeWilliam J. Brennan, Jr., wrote the majority opinion, which largely upheld the district court's original ruling.[13][14][15]

    “The District Court in this case carefully considered the totality of the circumstances and found that in each district racially polarized voting; the legacy of official discrimination in voting matters, education, housing, employment, and health services; and the persistence of campaign appeals to racial prejudice acted in concert with the multimember districting scheme to impair the ability of geographically insular and politically cohesive groups of black voters to participate equally in the political process and to elect candidates of their choice.[10]”
    —Justice William J. Brennan, Jr.

    InThornburg v. Gingles, the court also established three criteria that must be met in order "to prove claims of vote dilution under section 2 [of the Voting Rights Act]:"[13][14][15]

    1. "The minority group must be able to demonstrate that it is sufficiently large and geographically compact to constitute a majority in a single-member district."
    2. "The minority group must be able to show that it is politically cohesive."
    3. "The minority must be able to demonstrate that the white majority votes sufficiently as a bloc to enable it usually to defeat the minority’s preferred candidate."

    Historical information

    The chart below shows the number of majority-minority districts nationwide in 2013, 2015, 2021, 2022, and 2023.

    Expand a section below to view data from that year.

    Expand All
    2023
    2022
    2021
    2015
    2013


    Support and opposition

    Support

    Proponents of majority-minority districts argue that these districts are a necessary hindrance to the practice ofcracking, which occurs when a constituency is divided between several districts in order to prevent it from achieving a majority in any one district. In an April 2015 report for theCongressional Research Service, legislative attorney L. Paige Whitaker described this argument as follows:[7]

    “A majority-minority district is one in which a racial or language minority group comprises a voting majority. The creation of such districts can avoid racial vote dilution by preventing the submergence of minority voters into the majority, which can deny minority voters the opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice.[10]”
    —L. Paige Whitaker

    In addition, supporters argue that the drawing of majority-minority districts has resulted in an increased number of minority representatives in state legislatures and Congress. TheAmerican Civil Liberties Union, in a 2001 report, made this argument:[2][3][4][17]

    “In 1964, there were only about 300 black elected officials nationwide. By 1998 the number had grown to more than 8,858. This increase is the direct result of the increase in majority-minority districts since passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965. ... Given the persistent patterns of racial bloc voting in the South, the destruction of majority-minority districts, whether at the congressional or state and local levels, would inevitable lead to a decline in the number of minority office holders.[10]”
    —American Civil Liberties Union

    Opposition

    Critics contend that the establishment of majority-minority districts can result inpacking, which occurs when a constituency or voting group is placed within a single district, thereby minimizing its influence in other districts. Kim Soffen, writing forThe Washington Post in June 2016, summarized this argument as follows:[18]

    “Imagine the minority-favored candidate can win an election in a district if at least 30 percent of voters are minorities. What harm is done by the legislators packing the district up to 50 percent minority voters? Much like political gerrymandering, it limits black influence in surrounding districts. It would require the creation of, for instance, a 50 percent and a 10 percent black district, rather than two 30 percent black districts. In other words, the requirement would give black voters one representative of their choice rather than two.[10]”
    —Kim Soffen

    Critics argue that, because minority groups tend to voteDemocratic, majority-minority districts ultimately present an unfair advantage toRepublicans by consolidating Democratic votes into a smaller number of districts. Steven Hill, writing forThe Atlantic in June 2013, made the following argument:[2][3][4]

    “The drawing of majority-minority districts not only elected more minorities, it also had the effect of bleeding minority voters out of all the surrounding districts. Given that minority voters were the most reliably Democratic voters, that made all of the neighboring districts more Republican. The black, Latino, and Asian representatives mostly were replacing white Democrats, and the increase in minority representation was coming at the expense of electing fewer Democrats.[10]”
    —Steven Hill

    Recent news

    The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the termsMajority minority districts. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

    See also

    External links

    Footnotes

    1. ↑1.01.11.2, "2024 American Community Survey; B03002 HISPANIC OR LATINO ORIGIN BY RACE," accessed September 24, 2025
    2. ↑2.02.12.2Indy Week, "Cracked, stacked and packed: Initial redistricting maps met with skepticism and dismay," June 29, 2011
    3. ↑3.03.13.2The Atlantic, "How the Voting Rights Act Hurts Democrats and Minorities," June 17, 2013
    4. ↑4.04.14.2Internet Archive - Redrawing the Lines, "The Role of Section 2 - Majority Minority Districts," archived April 9, 2015Cite error: Invalid<ref> tag; name "naacp" defined multiple times with different contentCite error: Invalid<ref> tag; name "naacp" defined multiple times with different content
    5. ↑United States Census Bureau, "2009-2013 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates," accessed April 8, 2015
    6. ↑United States Census Bureau, "American Fact Finder: 2015 1-year estimates," accessed May 23, 2017
    7. ↑7.07.1Congressional Research Service, "Congressional Redistricting and the Voting Rights Act: A Legal Overview," April 13, 2015
    8. ↑United States Census Bureau, "2024 Geographic Boundaries," accessed September 24, 2025
    9. ↑Legal Information Institute, "Voting Rights Act," accessed June 19, 2017
    10. ↑10.010.110.210.310.410.5Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
    11. ↑Yale Law School, The Avalon Project, "Voting Rights Act of 1965; August 6, 1965," accessed April 6, 2015
    12. ↑Justice.gov, "Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act," accessed July 21, 2015
    13. ↑13.013.113.2The Oyez Project at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, "Thornburg v. Gingles," accessed May 20, 2015
    14. ↑14.014.114.2Racial and Ethnic Tensions in American Communities: Poverty, Inequality, and Discrimination—Volume VII: The Mississippi Delta Report, "Chapter 3–Voting Rights and Political Representation in the Mississippi Delta," accessed May 20, 2015
    15. ↑15.015.115.2Justia.com, "Thornburg v. Gingles, 478 U.S. 30 (1986)," June 30, 1986
    16. ↑United States Census Bureau, "2023 Geographic Boundaries," accessed May 21, 2025
    17. ↑American Civil LIberties Union, "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Redistricting," April 2001
    18. ↑The Washington Post, "How racial gerrymandering deprives black people of political power," June 9, 2016
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