New Map Favors Republicans
Louisiana lawmakers approved a new congressional map Friday that eliminates one of the state's two majority-Black districts. This redistricting could allow Republicans to gain a seat in the U.S. House in the upcoming midterm elections. The map has five of the state's six House districts as GOP-leaning and is expected to help elect five Republicans and one Democrat to Congress.
Supreme Court Ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on April 30 that the previous map was an illegal racial gerrymander. This decision weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The court's ruling intensified a national redistricting battle.
Republican Strategy
Some Republicans considered drawing a map that would give the party a chance to win all six of Louisiana's U.S. House seats. Legislators opted to eliminate only one of the majority-Black districts. The new map includes one majority-Black district encompassing most of New Orleans and stretching to predominantly Black neighborhoods in Baton Rouge.
Shifting District Lines
The new map dismantles a majority-Black district that previously zigzagged from Baton Rouge to Shreveport. Baton Rouge's Black population is now split between two districts. Shreveport is absorbed into the rest of northwest Louisiana.
Legal Challenges Expected
More lawsuits are expected over the new map. Democrats say the map could still constitute a racial gerrymander because it packs Black voters into a single congressional district. The plaintiffs in the U.S. Supreme Court case criticized the Legislature's map for leaving a majority-Black district in place.
Delayed Primaries
Republican Gov. Jeff Landry postponed the state's U.S. House primary, originally scheduled for May 16, to allow time for lawmakers to redraw the map. The rescheduled primaries are now set for Nov. 3.
National Redistricting
Several other Southern states have acted on redistricting since the Supreme Court's decision. Tennessee eliminated its sole Democratic-held seat, a majority-Black district in Memphis. Governors in Georgia and Mississippi also plan to propose redraws of their congressional maps.
Partisan Debate
Republican state Rep. Beau Beaullieu said they focused on partisanship, not racial numbers when drawing the map. Democratic state Rep. Kyle Green Jr. stated that reducing minority opportunity representation to a single seat out of six is not a map, but a math problem. The current Baton Rouge-based district is represented by Democratic Rep. Cleo Fields, who won the seat in 2024 and represented a similar district from 1992 until it was dismantled following a federal court decision in 1996.
