NEW: Stacey Abrams on why gutting of the US Voting Rights Act is ‘evil’ – Stateside with Kai and Carter

Politics Weekly UK

The Guardian

Politics, News

4.0 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 17 May 2026

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The US supreme court demolished the 1965 Voting Rights Act when they ruled in Louisiana v Callais in April that states can’t consider race in redistricting. Southern states from Tennessee to Alabama have rushed to erase majority Black districts, sparking chaos for the midterm elections. Kai Wright talks with Stacey Abrams, voting rights activist and former Georgia house minority leader, about the fallout from the decision, and why, even now, she thinks the way forward is still through engaging more voters to participate in democracy: “They have fractured communities and said we’re going to scatter these seeds. Our job is to grow.”. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/politicspod

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is The Guardian.
0:09.1	Hi, it's Pippa.
0:10.4	And Kieran.
0:11.0	And today we're bringing you something different,
0:13.2	the launch episode of our brand new show
0:15.4	out of the Guardian's New York office
0:17.2	called Stateside with Kai and Carter.
0:19.6	Their first episode is with voting rights
0:21.5	activist and former Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams. She's talking about the recent
0:26.4	voter suppression efforts in the southern states following a US Supreme Court decision in Louisiana.
0:31.4	They'll be releasing episodes on their feed every Monday, Wednesday and Friday wherever you get
0:35.6	this podcast and in video on YouTube and Apple Podcasts.
0:39.4	Enjoy this episode.
0:41.3	My nieces and nephews, they are the first generation to lose civil rights since reconstruction.
0:48.1	This is evil. But it's also so pedestrian.
1:00.2	They can't win on their ideas, and so their solution is to silence the other side.
1:05.3	But this time, what they have done is misread the moment.
1:08.5	And that's the part that gives me not optimism, but determination.
1:10.7	Optimism says I'm sure we'll win. Det Optimism says I'm sure will win.
1:12.5	Determination says I'm going to win.
1:20.7	I'm Kairite.
1:21.6	I'm Carter Sherman.
	...

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