A majority-minority district is an electoral district, such as a United States congressional district, in which the majority of the constituents in the district are racial or ethnic minorities (as opposed to Non-Hispanic whites in the U.S.). Race is collected through the decennial United States census.
Majority-minority districts may be created to avoid or remedy violations of the Voting Rights Act of 1965's prohibitions on drawing redistricting plans that diminish the ability of a racial or language minority to elect its candidates of choice. In some instances, majority-minority districts may result from affirmative racial gerrymandering. The value of drawing district lines to create majority-minority districts is a matter of dispute both within and outside of minority communities. Some view majority-minority districts as a way to dilute the voting power of minorities and analogous to racial segregation; others favor majority-minority districts as ways to effectively ensure the election of minorities to legislative bodies, including the House of Representatives. Majority-minority districts have been the subject of legal cases examining the constitutionality of such districts, including Shaw v. Reno (1993), Miller v. Johnson (1995), and Bush v. Vera (1996).
Population data are from 2021 American Community Survey and 2020 census population estimates. Districts in the table below reflect the 118th Congress.[1]
Currently, there are 26 congressional districts where African Americans make up a majority of constituents, mostly in the South. Every district is represented by Democrats. There are two African American majority congressional districts that are represented by someone who is not African American: Steve Cohen from Tennessee's 9th and Shri Thanedar from Michigan's 13th.
| Rank | Perc. | State | District | 118th Congress | Total 2019 | Afric. Amer. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3[2] | 60.3% | Tennessee | Steve Cohen (non-Black) | 767,682 | 574,437 | ||
| 2[3] | 62.1% | Mississippi | 723,186 | 549,830 | |||
| 6[4] | 63.4% | Alabama | 670,015 | 419,256 | |||
| 4[5] | 58.6% | Louisiana | 762,623 | 589,929 | |||
| 5[6] | 54.5% | Georgia | 756,440 | 585,951 | |||
| 7[7] | 58.5% | Georgia | 788,996 | 436,884 | |||
| 1[8] | 66.7% | Georgia | 763,561 | 566,875 | |||
| 8[9] | 57% | South Carolina | 665,215 | 361,328 | |||
| 10[10] | 56.3% | Illinois | 685,695 | 383,058 | |||
| 11[11] | 55.6% | Michigan | Shri Thanedar (non-Black) | 672,291 | 363,772 | ||
| 12[12] | 55% | New York | 776,825 | 403,080 | |||
| 13[13] | 54% | Pennsylvania | 741,654 | 418,050 | |||
| 14[14] | 53.8% | Maryland | 717,158 | 376,343 | |||
| 16[15] | 53.4% | Florida | 802,463 | 424,842 | |||
| 17[16] | 52.9% | Maryland | 746,989 | 578,752 | |||
| 15[17] | 53.5% | Ohio | 684,617 | 362,284 | |||
| 19[18] | 51.6% | Georgia | 671,831 | 354,964 | |||
| 20[19] | 51.3% | Illinois | 711,039 | 359,132 | |||
| 18[20] | 52.7% | New Jersey | 768,400 | 594,109 | |||
| 21[21] | 50.6% | Florida | 756,692 | 593,543 | |||
| 22[22] | 50.5% | New York | 720,316 | 336,566 |
Currently, Asian-Americans make up the majority of constituents in two districts. California's 17th represented by Indian-American Ro Khanna and Hawaii's 1st represented by non-Asian Ed Case. Both are Democrats.
| Rank | Perc. | State | District | Member | Total 2019 | Asian Amer. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1[23] | 52.7% | California | 790,519 | 439,547 | |||
| 2[24] | 50.2% | Hawaii | Ed Case (non-Asian) | 720,786 | 364,354 | ||
| 3 | 39.4% | New York | 714,299 | 281,433 |
As of the 118th congress, there are 37 majority-Hispanic or Latino congressional districts.
| - ! Rank | Perc. | State | District | 118th Congress | Total 2020 | Hispanic or Latino | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 87.2% | California | 715,934 | 624,294 | |||
| 2 | 84.5% | Texas | 712,596 | 602,428 | |||
| 3 | 82.5% | Texas | 787,124 | 649,297 | |||
| 4 | 81.5% | Texas | 757,427 | 617,465 | |||
| 5 | 78.9% | Texas | 851,824 | 672,129 | |||
| 6 | 78.7% | California | 654,303 | 515,167 | |||
| 7 | 76.0% | Texas | 677,032 | 514,861 | |||
| 8 | 75.4% | California | 641,410 | 483,490 | |||
| 9 | 73.5% | Illinois | 601,156 | 442,018 | |||
| 10 | 51.6% | Texas | Michael Cloud (Non Hispanic/Latino) | 741,993 | 543,306 | ||
| 11 | 71.6% | Florida | 807,176 | 577,998 | |||
| 12 | 71.5% | Texas | 711,705 | 509,208 | |||
| 14 | 69.5% | California | 764,643 | 531,426 | |||
| 15 | 69.5% | California | 717,140 | 500,426 | |||
| 16 | 68.9% | Florida | 750,653 | 517,199 | |||
| 17 | 68.5% | California | 757,891 | 473,224 | |||
| 18 | 68.2% | California | 717,659 | 489,443 | |||
| 19 | 68.2% | California | 611,336 | 417,183 | |||
| 20 | 67.3% | Florida | 780,951 | 525,580 | |||
| 21 | 66.9% | Texas | Marc Veasey (Non Hispanic/Latino) | 751,182 | 502,540 | ||
| 22 | 66.4% | Texas | 847,651 | 562,913 | |||
| 23 | 66.1% | New York | 731,101 | 483,258 | |||
| 24 | 66.0% | California | 734,651 | 484,869 | |||
| 25 | 62.6% | California | 642,236 | 412,275 | |||
| 26 | 61.6% | Arizona | 698,314 | 446,159 | |||
| 27 | 61.1% | Texas | Lloyd Doggett (Non Hispanic/Latino) | 857,654 | 524,712 | ||
| 28 | 59.3% | California | Jim Costa (Non Hispanic/Latino) | 753,152 | 446,619 | ||
| 29 | 58.1% | California | Mark Takano (Non Hispanic/Latino) | 786,719 | 457,083 | ||
| 30 | 56.0% | Arizona | Ruben Gallego | 855,769 | 479,014 | ||
| 31 | 52.7% | New Jersey | Albio Sires | 766,357 | 403,870 | ||
| 32 | 52.1% | California | Jimmy Panetta (Non Hispanic/Latino) | 741,838 | 386,497 | ||
| 33 | 51.8% | New Mexico | 663,956 | 343,856 | |||
| 34 | 51.2% | California | David Valadao (Non Hispanic/Latino) | 784,176 | 401,194 |