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Black voters delivered the midterm elections. Now Black faith and civil rights leaders say the new Congress owes them voting rights action in return.
The message landed in sermons, statements and community forums across the country this week.
It reaches a church in Newark tonight, where residents will plan the next phase of the fight.
Major Takeaways
Progressive National Baptist Convention President Keith W. Byrd Sr. called on Congress to restore and strengthen the full protections of the Voting Rights Act.
NAACP President Derrick Johnson said Black voters proved they are builders of this country, not bystanders in it.
A Newark forum tonight at New Eden Baptist Church takes up voting rights, the economy, education, health and criminal justice.
An estimated 124 million ballots were cast this year, and registration climbed to 196 million voters nationwide.
Voting Rights Restoration Tops the List
Byrd leads the Progressive National Baptist Convention, the denomination that counted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. among its own.
He praised the victories, then refused to treat them as the finish line.
“Elections end, but our calling does not,” Byrd said in a November 5 statement.
“The issues that brought our communities to the polls remain before us: Health and healing, economic justice, safe neighborhoods, quality education, and the protection of the vote.”
Byrd pointed to the Supreme Court and its six to three decision in Louisiana v. Callais this year.
He said that ruling weakened the voice of Black voters and cut into protections built during the civil rights era.
“This year our voters persevered in the face of real obstacles,” Byrd said.
“The right to vote was won through prayer, sacrifice and blood, and it must not be quietly eroded.”
“We call on Congress to restore and strengthen the full protections of the Voting Rights Act, and we will continue to defend every citizen’s right to vote and to have that vote count.”
A voter at flag marked voting booths. Photo by Phil Roeder via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
Byrd also set the standard his churches will use to judge the new majority.
Leaders, he said, are called to serve all the people, and especially the least of these.
“We will measure your service by how you treat the poor, the sick, the stranger and the forgotten, and we will hold you accountable to justice.”
Newark Asks Where We Go From Here
That accountability conversation goes live tonight in Newark, New Jersey.
The People’s Organization For Progress holds a forum titled The Attack On Voting Rights And The War On Black People.
It starts at 6:00 p.m. at New Eden Baptist Church on South 12th Street.
“Now that the midterm elections have taken place we must ask where do we go from here?” said Lawrence Hamm, chairman of the organization.
“The election is over but the attack on voting rights and the war on Black people has continued. Even during this election there were efforts to suppress the vote,” Hamm said.
Scheduled speakers include the Reverend Dr. Bernard W. Savage, Central Ward Councilwoman Amina Bey and Judith Favors of the Newark Branch NAACP.
The Reverend Dr. Allen Simmons will moderate, and the second half of the night belongs to the audience.
The forum is the twelfth in a series held across New Jersey communities.
Hamm warned that the country is not out of the danger zone yet.
He said his group opposes any attempt to block the seating of the new Congress.
The panel will also take up attacks in the economy, education, health and criminal justice.
Turnout That Changed the Map
The demands carry weight because the turnout behind them was enormous.
An estimated 124 million ballots were cast, up from 112 million in 2022.
Registration jumped from 153 million in 2018 to 196 million in 2026.
That surge came despite federal efforts that voting advocates said were meant to impede access to the polls.
Democrats gained control of both houses of Congress and flipped six governorships.
Texas, Kansas and five other states flipped from red to blue.
NAACP President Derrick Johnson. Photo: NAACP via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.
Johnson credited Black voters for standing up to pressure aimed at the polls.
“Once again, Black voters have proven that we are not bystanders in this country, we are its builders,” Johnson said.
“The Trump administration tried every trick in the book to block voters from the polls, but we showed up and showed out, and we voted.”
The Progressive National Baptist Convention joined the Rainbow PUSH Coalition and organized labor in an effort called The People’s Revival.
Its church events ran through Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas.
Georgia went on to elect the first Black woman governor in United States history.
Her organizing story anchors our Divine Nine coverage from this morning.
Texas elected the first Latina governor in its history.
The Work Starts Now
Labor leaders echoed the same demand for delivery.
The head of the national labor federation called the result union made and said working people organized the wave.
She said the mandate to the new Congress is clear: lower costs, raise wages and check attacks on basic freedoms.
The United States Capitol in Washington. Photo via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
Faith coalitions ran poll chaplain training, bus tours and rallies in states across the country.
One alliance toured 17 states in the final month under a simple banner: the vote is sacred.
Johnson said keeping power takes more than one election night.
“This election’s outcomes are not the finish line. They’re a reminder that we the people have the power.”
“And keeping that power requires us to vote, hold elected officials accountable and fight for our freedom.”
The new Congress will also weigh impeachment pressure, as our morning report detailed.
For Black communities, the first test is simpler and older than any single bill.
Protect the vote that built the majority, then deliver for the people who cast it.
Follow every step of that fight at Urban City Podcast.
