Johnson & Jeffries’s Prisoner’s Dilemma

Neither party’s leadership is thrilled with the prospect of unending, scorched-earth redistricting wars. Mike Johnson views the gerrymandering games as a headache, and Hakeem Jeffries wants a national ban on mid-decade redraws. But until that day, “we are not going to unilaterally disarm.”

Indeed, for all their contrasts, Johnson and Jeffries both need to build a governing coalition. Razor-thin majorities, exacerbated by gerrymandering, have emboldened factions to constantly test their parties’ leadership. Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Marianna Sotomayor

May 6, 2026

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In the week since the Supreme Court struck down Louisiana’s congressional map—and sledgehammered another pillar of the Voting Rights Act—red-state legislatures have become amateur cartography departments, eagerly preparing to redraw districts across the South. House Speaker Mike Johnson has insisted that he wants no part of it. “Thankfully, it’s not up to me,” he explained this morning in his office, during a quiet recess on the Hill. “It’s in the hands of the legislature, and I’ve told them this time what I told them last time, and every time I’ve been asked: This is not my job to do.”