California Democrats Stand with Tennessee's Justin Jones, Demand Congress Restore the Voting Rights Act

California legislators and advocates joined Tennessee State Representative Justin Jones decrying Supreme Court ruling enabling the silencing of Black voters across the South.

• Daniel McGreevy
• Communications Coordinator
• (916) 319-2589
• [email protected]

Photos

Download Asm. Bonta's Floor Remarks

Download Asm. Bonta and Rep Jones's Press ConferenceRemarks

Watch the Full Press Conference

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Today, Assembly Democrats overwhelmingly passed AJR 31 60-11, calling on Congress to restore the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The vote came one day after Assemblymember Mia Bonta convened a press conference alongside Tennessee State Representative Justin Jones and a coalition of California legislative leaders to demand Congress act in the wake of the Supreme Court's devastating ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, a decision voting rights advocates are calling the most significant rollback of federal civil rights protections since the Voting Rights Act was enacted 60 years ago.

On April 29, 2026, the Supreme Court's six-three conservative majority gutted Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, the primary legal tool protecting Black and brown voters from racially discriminatory maps and election systems. Within days, Republican legislatures in Tennessee and Alabama moved to eliminate majority-Black congressional districts, stripping Black communities of decades of hard-won political representation. Tennessee Republicans passed a new congressional map carving up Memphis, a majority-Black city, into three separate districts, eliminating the state's only Black-majority congressional seat. Alabama simultaneously moved to reinstate maps federal courts had previously struck down as racially discriminatory. This comes as part of a coordinated, Trump-directed effort to entrench white political power and ensure Republican control of the U.S. House before November's midterm elections.

AJR 31, authored by Assemblymember Isaac Bryan and co-authored by Assemblymember Bonta, calls on Congress to restore a functional preclearance regime, codify a results-based standard under Section 2 consistent with Thornburg v. Gingles, and pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

"What is happening right now is not new, and we will not go back," said Assemblymember Mia Bonta. "For the first hundred years of California's existence, states across this country used poll taxes, literacy tests, and gerrymandered maps to keep Black and brown people out of the ballot box. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was supposed to be the end of that era. On April 29th, this Supreme Court decided it wasn't... Donald Trump and Republicans know their agenda is unpopular. Their skyrocketing prices are unpopular. Their party is unpopular. So instead of changing course, they are rigging the maps and blatantly racially discriminating and gerrymandering… In 2021 Democrats passed the For the People Act and Republicans blocked it. Congress still has the authority and the obligation to act. Restore and strengthen the Voting Rights Act. Now."

"We know what happens in moments like these when our rights are stripped from us. We don't back down, we fight harder. We are here today to say we are not going to back down and we will not go back. We are here because our voting rights, one of the most fundamental pillars of democracy, are under attack again," said Assemblymember Sade Elhawary. "This is just another chapter of the Republican playbook that the Trump administration is using to silence and oppress minority communities."

"For Black Americans like myself, the fight for the right to vote has never been theoretical and it has always come with a very high cost," said Senator Akilah Weber Pierson, Chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus. "We cannot remain silent while communities are targeted for political and racial gain. The California Legislative Black Caucus stands firmly in defense of voting rights, equal representation, and the principles that democracy must include all people - not just a privileged few."

Tennessee State Representative Justin Jones, born and raised in Oakland, California, a graduate of Fisk University on the John R. Lewis Scholarship for Social Activism, and a two-time elected member of the Tennessee House of Representatives, traveled to Sacramento to stand alongside California legislators and deliver an eyewitness account of what unfolded on the Tennessee House floor.

"I come from the South to Sacramento to say that we need California's help as we confront this new Confederacy. When I walked into the House floor last Thursday it was 2026, when I walked off the House floor it was pre-1965. What we saw was a rollback of the clock of history bringing us back to times that we don't want to go to," said Representative Justin Jones (TN). "This is not about partisanship, this is about race - and it's being done with unrelenting vigor and determination."

"From Oakland to Memphis, from the hood to the holler, an attack on Black voters anywhere is an attack on all of us," said Assemblymember Bonta. "We will not look away. We will not stay quiet. And we will not go back."

###

Assemblymember Mia Bontarepresents California's 18^th Assembly District encompassing the East Bay including Oakland, Alameda, and Emeryville. She also serves as chair of the Assembly Health Committee and the California Legislative Children's Caucus.

Courtesy photos can be found HERE.