Common Cause Launches Fairness Criteria to Counter Mid-Decade Power Plays

Common Cause today reaffirmed its commitment to fair, people-powered democracy, making clear that independent redistricting commissions remain the gold standard for ending partisan gerrymandering.

However, as political leaders in states like Texas are imposing mid-decade partisan maps to distort the will of the people ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, the organization announced it will closely evaluate, but not automatically condemn, countermeasures to these actions.

The organization’s policy experts will hold a national media briefing tomorrow, Wednesday August 13 at 12 p.m. ET to walk reporters though the six pieces of criteria the organization will use to evaluate any proposed maps. To register, click here.

“We will not sit idly by while political leaders manipulate voting maps to entrench their power and subvert our democracy,” said Virginia Kase Solomón, President and CEO of Common Cause. “But neither will we call for unilateral political disarmament in the face of authoritarian tactics that undermine fair representation. We have established a fairness criteria that we will use to evaluate all countermeasures so we can respond to the most urgent threats to fair representation while holding all actors to the same principled standard: people—not parties—first.”

Common Cause emphasized that while partisan gerrymandering is a harmful manipulation of voters, some states, such as California, are considering mid-decade redistricting as a countermeasure to President Trump’s directive to Governor Abbott and the Texas legislature to deliver him five Congressional seats to entrench unaccountable power.

“Courts, Congress, and political leaders have failed to act,” Kase Solomón continued. “This moment is about more than responding to a single threat — it’s about building the movement for lasting reform. This is not an isolated political tactic; it is part of a broader march toward authoritarianism, dismantling people-powered democracy, and stripping away the people’s ability to have a political voice and say in how they are governed.”

Common Cause’s position follows decades of advocacy against partisan gerrymandering, including taking Common Cause v. Rucho to the Supreme Court, drafting provisions in the Freedom to Vote Act to ban partisan gerrymandering, and championing independent redistricting commissions nationwide.

Common Cause’s Six Fairness Criteria for Mid-Decade Redistricting

1. Proportionality: Any mid-decade redistricting should be a targeted response proportional to the threat posed by mid-decade gerrymanders in other states.
2. Public participation: Any redistricting must include meaningful public participation, whether through ballot initiatives or open public processes.
3. Racial equity: Redistricting must not further racial discrimination or dilute the political voice of Black, Latino, Indigenous, Asian American, and Pacific Islander, or other communities of color.
4. Federal reform: Leaders pursuing mid-decade redistricting must publicly endorse the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act, including provisions banning mid-decade redistricting and partisan gerrymandering.
5. Endorsement of independent redistricting: Leaders pursuing mid-decade redistricting must publicly endorse citizen-led independent redistricting commissions as the long-term solution.
6. Time-limited: Any new redistricting maps must expire following the 2030 Census, which counts all people in our country, and be replaced through the regular decennial redistricting process.

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To read Common Cause’s mid-decade redistricting policy, click here.