Former Vice President Kamala Harris delivered a fiery rebuke of the Supreme Court’s recent redistricting decision on May 13, 2026, during a call with the progressive organization Emerge, where she advocated for expanding the nation’s highest court, eliminating the Electoral College, and granting full statehood to both Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.
The sweeping proposals come as Harris has ramped up public appearances and political activity in a pattern many analysts believe signals preparations for another White House bid in 2028.
The Redistricting Earthquake
Harris’s remarks centered on Louisiana v. Callais, a Supreme Court ruling that now forces those alleging racial discrimination in congressional map-drawing to demonstrate “intentional discrimination” — a threshold critics describe as virtually unattainable. The decision has effectively dismantled a critical component of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
“What they have done with this decision, by saying that the politics of redistricting is OK, is they are back-dooring racism through politics,” Harris told the group.
Republican-controlled states have moved swiftly to capitalize on the Callais decision. Tennessee has dismantled the state’s sole Black-majority district in central Memphis, splitting what had been a Democratic-leaning seat across three separate districts. Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina are pursuing comparable redistricting plans, with at least one majority-Black district in each state now targeted for elimination.
Harris is slated to keynote the Louisiana Democratic Party’s fundraiser gala on Aug. 7, where she will outline her response to the Callais ruling. She has also been calling members of the Congressional Black Caucus and spent the spring fundraising for Democratic state parties across the South. Several states have begun voting even as legislators continue redrawing district boundaries, generating a turbulent legal and electoral environment as the midterms approach. Republicans maintain the court has merely reinstated neutral principles corrupted by years of race-based mapmaking, while Democrats characterize the new boundaries as state-sanctioned voter suppression.
“What they are doing is intentionally… trying to suppress the voice of the people,” Harris said on the Emerge call.
The Court-Packing Push Returns
Harris’ call for “Supreme Court reform, including the notion of expanding the court” marks the most prominent Democratic endorsement of the concept since Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s 2020 death enabled President Donald Trump to install a third justice, creating the conservative supermajority that has fundamentally transformed American jurisprudence.
Democratic strategist and longtime adviser James Carville devoted an entire podcast episode in April to advocating the identical position, urging Democrats to expand the court to 13 justices and admit both Puerto Rico and D.C. as states should they capture the presidency and both congressional chambers in 2028.
Yale Law School constitutional law professor Jed Rubenfeld rejected court-packing plans as “idiotic and pernicious” in a forceful opinion article published on May 19. Rubenfeld contended that adding justices would eliminate the final significant constraint on majoritarian power and destroy the constitutional framework through a single act of legislation.
A Comeback Tour Hiding in Plain Sight
Harris, who suffered defeat in the 2024 presidential election, has maintained a conspicuously active schedule. Between April and May 2026, she made appearances at four significant events across four cities — her schedule included her first keynote address following her 2024 loss at the Arkansas Democratic Party’s Fisher Shackelford Dinner in Little Rock on April 25, where she called for a revival of the American dream and blamed both major parties for failing working Americans, the Public Counsel Awards Dinner in Beverly Hills on April 30, and a Las Vegas conversation on Democratic priorities and the 2026 midterms in May — a pace more characteristic of presidential campaign groundwork than a former officeholder’s retirement.
Multiple recent surveys identify Harris as an early 2028 Democratic nomination favorite. Her comments during the Emerge conversation resembled a campaign address rather than a reflection on past failures.
A Sharper, More Combative Harris
“Let’s invite a discussion about how do we push for statehood for Puerto Rico and Washington D.C.; how are we thinking about the Electoral College,” Harris said, before addressing what she termed the critical necessity to neutralize what she called red-state cheating.
The Harris who spoke in late May struck a dramatically different tone from the measured 2024 contender. Describing the political moment to Emerge members, she declared there is a brutality at play on the other side and a ruthlessness, and insisted Democrats need to play to win.
Supporters attribute the transformation to insights learned from her general election loss to President Donald Trump. Conservative observers contend Harris is merely courting the party’s progressive wing before what promises to be a competitive 2028 primary. Regardless of motivation, her statements have exploded across political circles, triggering intense Republican backlash and cautious enthusiasm from Democrats who have spent over a year seeking a compelling national figure.
Whether Harris officially launches a 2028 presidential campaign remains uncertain, but her recent itinerary — combined with her embrace of the Democratic Party’s most aggressive institutional reform proposals — demonstrates her determination to occupy a central role in party politics. A June 8 ABC News report, drawing on interviews with more than 15 former insiders, found some former allies unenthusiastic about another run and favoring fresh faces — and noted Harris has not yet begun explicitly deliberating a 2028 bid with her team.
Harris’ current posture leaves no ambiguity: the period of quiet has ended, and the next campaign — whether officially acknowledged or not — is unmistakably underway.