Plot twist: Georgia Republicans unexpectedly kill redistricting push

• In a surprising last-minute letter, Republican lawmakers shot down a redistricting special session called by Gov. Brian Kemp (R) just hours before it was supposed to convene. The legislature was supposed to redraw maps for the 2028 election.
  
  
• The stunning backtrack makes Georgia the second Southern state, after South Carolina, that has failed to ram a gerrymander through the legislature since the Supreme Court gutted Voting Rights Act protections in April.
  
  
• More analysis: Republicans backed away after Democrats, civil rights groups and pro-voting advocates mobilized against the plan — and after some Republicans reportedly worried that a racially charged redistricting fight could energize Democratic voters, as our Reporter Yunior Rivas writes.
  
  
• Why Republicans backed down >>>

Also in Georgia: 3 anti-voting Republicans advance in bids for positions overseeing democracy

• Rick Jackson, a billionaire election denier who has echoed Trump’s false claims about Georgia’s 2020 election, won the Republican runoff for governor, putting him one step closer to leading one of the country’s most important battleground states.
  
  
• Rep. Mike Collins (R), a defender of the Jan. 6 riot, won a key Senate primary runoff election and will face off against Sen. Jon Ossoff (D) in November.
  
  
• State Rep. Tim Fleming (R), who campaigned on stricter voting laws and false claims about election fraud, won the Republican runoff for secretary of state.
  
  
• The latest on Jackson’s win >>>

Trump delays intel chief confirmation hearing to force SAVE America Act vote

• Trump said he would seek to delay the Senate confirmation hearing for Jay Clayton, his nominee for director of national intelligence, in yet another attempt to pressure lawmakers into passing the SAVE America Act, a massive anti-voting bill.
  
  
• Trump’s delay will also help Bill Pulte, a loyalist who has targeted the president’s enemies, take over the top intelligence role in an acting capacity.
  
  
• More on Trump’s comments >>>

Right-wing legal group sues to obtain Oklahoma’s voter rolls

• The Public Interest Legal Foundation, a conservative legal group with a long record of promoting voter roll purges, sued Oklahoma, demanding access to the state’s voter registration list just months after it agreed to hand over sensitive voter data to the Trump administration.
  
  
• Inside the right-wing group’s lawsuit >>>

The new way Trump’s DOJ wants to disenfranchise voters

• The DOJ’s latest attack on voting rights could make it much easier to purge voters close to an election.
  
  
• Here's what you need to know >>>

They gerrymandered him out, but Rep. Justin Pearson is running anyway

• In an interview with Marc, Tennessee state Rep. Justin Pearson (D) breaks down how Republican lawmakers eliminated a majority-Black congressional district in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Callais decision, what was lost and why he's running for Congress anyway — in the very district they drew to stop him.
  
  
• Watch the full video >>>

Coming up tomorrow:

• A three-judge panel will hold a hearing in a pro-voting lawsuit challenging Tennessee’s new gerrymandered map that dismantled the state’s lone Black-majority district.

Here we share noteworthy briefs on all things voting rights and democracy. Have a footnote for us? Send it to newsletters@democracydocket.com.

• While many artists dropped out of Trump’s Freedom 250 concert — forcing him to cancel it and replace it with a rally — many artists have agreed to perform at the Obama Presidential Library opening tomorrow, including: Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, John Legend, Jennifer Hudson, The Roots, Christina Aguilera and more.
  
  
• Democrat Mo Ivory ousted Fulton County Commission Chair Robb Pitts in a Democratic primary runoff in Georgia. Ivory has pushed back against the FBI’s raid of the county’s election hub and will compete against Eric Tatum in November.
  
  
• Trump used his time at the G7 Summit in France to falsely claim that the U.S. had “rigged” elections. During a press conference, he said: “Nobody plays tougher than the United States. Look, our elections are totally rigged; we have rigged elections.”
  
  
• The Capitol riot? That was apparently just “protest activity,” according to Don Berthiaume Jr., the nominee to be inspector general at the DOJ.
  
  
• Supervisors in Shasta County, California, have reportedly already voted not to defend the county or the registrar of voters against a lawsuit challenging an extreme anti-voting initiative that would ban mail and early voting, among other things.