Louisiana lawmakers advanced a congressional map on Thursday that would eliminate one of the state’s two majority-Black congressional districts, moving Republicans one step closer to securing a 5-1 advantage in the state’s House delegation ahead of the midterms.
The state Senate voted 27-10 to approve Senate Bill 121, a GOP-backed proposal that would largely restore Louisiana’s 2022 congressional map, created before Louisiana added a second majority-Black district following court challenges under the Voting Rights Act.
The proposal would dismantle the 6th Congressional District currently represented by Democratic Rep. Cleo Fields and redraw it into a Republican-leaning seat.
The map would leave Louisiana with a single majority-Black congressional district: the New Orleans-centered 2nd District represented by Democratic Rep. Troy Carter.
Fields’ current Baton Rouge-to-Shreveport district would be replaced with a more conservative district anchored in predominantly white areas around Baton Rouge and south Louisiana. The remaining majority-Black district would stretch from New Orleans into parts of Baton Rouge, potentially pitting Fields and Carter against each other in the same Democratic district.
Republican state Sen. Jay Morris, who sponsored the proposal, openly acknowledged during Thursday’s floor debate that the districts were designed to maximize Republican advantage.
“It is perfectly fine for us to redraw maps based upon politics. These maps are drawn to maximize Republican advantage for the incumbent Republicans that we have in Congress at the present time,” Morris said.
“We can protect current Republican incumbents. We can also create a performing Democratic district that draws in as many Democrats as possible in order to protect those Republican incumbents,” he added.
Democrats condemned the proposal during the hourslong debate as racial gerrymandering and a major rollback of Black political representation in a state where Black residents make up roughly one-third of the population.
“You cannot do racial gerrymandering in order to get a part of a partisan outcome. That is still illegal, and that’s what this map does,” Democratic state Sen. Sam Jenkins said during floor debate. “This 5-1 map is a political power grab.”
“I think that District 6 dilutes the Black vote down a 25%,” Democratic state Sen. Sidney Barthelemy said on Thursday. “If you do the math, and I think with that in mind, it certainly uses race, via the party to dilute the black vote.”
Democratic state Sen. Katrina Jackson-Andrews argued the new map creates an unfair advantage for Republicans.
“When we create five Republican districts, giving an Independent no chance to win, giving a Democrat no chance to win, no one gives and in campaigning, fundraising is a big issue,” Jackson-Andrews said.
The redistricting battle stems from the Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais on April 29, which struck down Louisiana’s previously adopted map containing two majority-Black districts. The ruling also significantly narrowed how minority voters can challenge maps under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Justice Samuel Alito’s majority opinion raised the standard for proving racial discrimination in redistricting cases, a move critics say effectively weakened one of the civil rights law’s most powerful enforcement tools.
Immediately following April’s SCOTUS ruling, Republican Gov. Jeff Landry postponed the state’s May 16 congressional primary elections to allow lawmakers to pursue a new map.
The proposal now heads to the Louisiana House, where Republicans hold a supermajority. If approved and signed by Landry, lawmakers must finalize a new map by June 1.
Fights over political boundaries intensified last year after President Donald Trump encouraged Texas Republicans to redraw congressional maps last July in an effort to expand the GOP’s House majority ahead of the midterms
The latest fallout over redistricting has extended far beyond Louisiana and Texas. Several Republican-led states, including Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee, are also pursuing or considering redraws that could eliminate additional Black-opportunity districts ahead of the midterms.
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