United States and Canada Overview: June 2026

Demonstration trends

This section provides key figures on demonstration events, which includes incidents categorized as "Protests," and "Violent demonstrations" as recorded by ACLED. For more information on event and sub-event types, see the ACLED Codebook

Radical group trends

This section provides key figures on far-right and white nationalist groups.¹

United States: Redistricting battle becomes focal point for protests

The ongoing legislative and judicial battle over redistricting ahead of the November 2026 midterm elections has led to a steady stream of demonstrations. Beginning with Texas and California in 2025, states have sought to redraw their congressional districts to create advantages for Democrats or Republicans in a political arms race that could decide the outcome of the election and determine Donald Trump’s ability to pass laws in his remaining years as president.²

On 29 April, the US Supreme Court changed the landscape of this battle, ruling in Louisiana v. Callais to strike down a Louisiana congressional map with two Black-majority districts and limit a provision of the Voting Rights Act that had outlawed discrimination in voting on the basis of race.³ On 29 May, Louisiana’s Republican-controlled legislature passed a new map eliminating one of its Black-majority districts.⁴ The Court’s decision has opened the door for other states, especially those controlled by Republicans in the South, to make their own attempts at eliminating districts with large minority group populations, which had previously been legally protected and which typically favor Democrats. 

In May, demonstrations concerning the Supreme Court’s ruling and new congressional maps were held in at least 14 states. In Alabama, more than half of the demonstrations recorded in May showed opposition to the ruling and to a 2023 congressional map that eliminates a Black-majority district, but had not been used. Though a federal court blocked implementation of the map on 26 May, the US Supreme Court subsequently issued a 3 June brief allowing the map to be used.⁵ At least a quarter of the demonstrations recorded in May in Missouri and Tennessee, both in the midst of their own battles over this issue, also opposed redistricting efforts.

Though the practice of gerrymandering congressional districts has a long history in the United States, the Supreme Court’s decision has changed the limits states must abide by, and has shifted the battle over congressional maps into high gear. Redistricting is set to continue beyond 2026, as Georgia, New York, Mississippi, and Maryland are expected to redraw their congressional districts ahead of the 2028 presidential election, with other states likely following suit.⁶

United States: Deadliest neo-Nazi attack in three years targets California mosque

On 18 May, two armed teenagers opened fire outside the Islamic Center of San Diego in a targeted attack, killing three people. They were later found dead with self-inflicted wounds in a nearby neighborhood. The shooters appeared to have been motivated by neo-Nazism, as their livestreamed video of the attack showed Nazi symbols on their weapons and clothing, as well as in a manifesto which is being reviewed by investigators.⁷ The manifesto references accelerationist neo-Nazi groups, including now-defunct Atomwaffen Division, as well as Brenton Tarrant, the perpetrator of the 2019 mass shooting at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand.⁸ 

The shooters referred to Tarrant as a “saint” and praised other mass shooters as incel “saints,” connecting them to an online culture that glorifies the perpetrators of mass violence. Beyond their manifesto, several elements of the shooting suggested they were explicitly emulating Tarrant aesthetically: They wore the same Nazi symbols, livestreamed their attack as he had done, and wrote on their weapons in white text.⁹ Tarrant has been emulated by other mass shooters, including the perpetrators of the August 2025 shooting at a Catholic School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the 2023 shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York (who also livestreamed the attack); both wrote Tarrant’s name and the names of other mass shooters on their weapons in white.

This attack on the Islamic Center of San Diego is the deadliest attack carried out by neo-Nazis or white supremacists in the United States since an August 2023 shooting at a store in Jacksonville, Florida, nearly three years prior. It also points to the growth of online communities that glorify violence and encourage emulative attacks — aesthetic emulation of Tarrant, as well as other infamous mass shooters, has grown increasingly common.¹⁰