Thousands to march on Washington after Voting Rights Act ruling

Sharpton calls march ‘probably the most important’ of recent years

Thousands of protesters are expected on the National Mall in Washington on Friday for the 2026 “Defend the Vote” March on Washington, a rally in support of voting rights and racial justice organized by the Rev. Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III ahead of the midterm elections.

The march follows a wave of changes to voting laws and redistricting that civil rights groups have condemned as detrimental to Black Americans. It comes after the U.S. Supreme Court’s April decision in Louisiana v. Callais reinterpreted key provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

That ruling allows Southern states to redraw their congressional maps in ways that erode equal representation in Black communities. Sharpton, founder of the National Action Network, told The Associated Press the march is “probably the most important” of recent years.

“We’ve been doing these marches for years, but this is probably the most important because this is the first year we are marching that the voting rights bill has been nullified by the Supreme Court,” Sharpton said in an interview with the AP.

The 2026 march echoes the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 March on Washington. Sharpton is co-organizing this year’s event with Martin Luther King III. The march is scheduled for Friday on the National Mall ahead of the midterm elections, following the Supreme Court’s April decision in Louisiana v. Callais.