Texas, Tennessee, and Mississippi — all led by Republican governors and legislatures — are pursuing efforts to diminish local control over policing, elections, and the courts in liberal and racially diverse areas.

All of the proposed legislation targets issues that are especially sensitive for marginalized areas, like elections and criminal justice. In Mississippi and Texas in particular, the legislation is targeted specifically at localities where people of color are the majority. Efforts in all three states indicate an alarming trend, in which Republican leadership is attempting new strategies to further erode democracy, particularly in majority-minority areas and Democratic strongholds.

Some of these efforts, like the state government’s push to control policing and the court system in Jackson, Mississippi’s majority-Black and underserved capital, have been in the works for months. Tennessee will eliminate community boards that oversee local police forces as of July 1.

In Texas, a bill that has already passed the state Senate would remove Harris County’s elections administrator and hand those duties […]