Louisiana Republicans passed a new congressional map Friday, May 29, that wipes out one of the state’s two majority-Black House districts — handing Gov. Jeff Landry a remapped congressional delegation with five of six seats expected to lean Republican ahead of the midterms.
The state Senate sent the bill to Landry, who is expected to sign it. Rep. Cleo Fields’ district — which snaked from Shreveport down to Baton Rouge — has been erased entirely. Rep. Troy Carter’s New Orleans-anchored district was redrawn to largely mirror the seat he won in 2022 and remains the lone Democratic district still standing.
Reaction
Not everyone in the GOP cheered. Rep. Clay Higgins called the map a “Frankenstein looking thing” that “was NO DOUBT drawn up by a very small handful of guys in a secret room.” His comments surfaced on the Louisiana House floor Thursday, prompting Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus Chair Edmond Jordan — a Democrat — to joke that “hell has frozen over” because he found himself agreeing with Higgins.
To get the map in place for this year’s cycle, Landry declared a state of emergency and canceled May primary elections for House races — a move that has already cost millions of dollars and triggered widespread confusion. Louisiana’s House primaries are now scheduled for Nov. 3, with any runoffs running into December.
The remap was made possible after the Supreme Court narrowed the Voting Rights Act, clearing the way for Louisiana and other GOP-led southern states to redraw majority-minority districts. The redistricting push started last summer in Texas and has since spread to 10 states, several of which remain tied up in court.
Legal challenges in Louisiana are almost certain. Plaintiffs in Louisiana v. Callais have already argued in court filings that the one remaining Black-majority district is itself unconstitutional — which means the new map could face litigation from multiple directions before the November elections.
Reporting by Politico. Read the original report.
