Majority-minority district

A majority-minority district is an electoral district where members of racial or ethnic minority groups, taken together or one group alone, make up more than half the voting-age population. Mapmakers often draw such districts to give minority voters a chance to elect candidates of their choice, as the Voting Rights Act may require.

Under Thornburg v. Gingles (1986), Section 2 of the Act can require a district when a minority group is large and compact enough to form a majority, votes cohesively, and the white majority usually votes as a bloc to defeat its preferred candidate. The Supreme Court has also held that race cannot be the predominant factor in drawing lines without strong justification, in cases such as Shaw v. Reno (1993), meaning that such districts can be challenged as racial gerrymanders under the Equal Protection Clause. Allen v. Milligan (2023) upheld a Section 2 challenge to Alabama's map.

Supporters see these districts as important to fair representation. Critics, including some conservatives, argue that they rely on race, can concentrate minority voters in a few districts and may reduce influence elsewhere, with partisan effects. The debate involves gerrymandering and continued litigation about whether the Act's requirements remain constitutional.