Louisiana GOP Passes Map Eliminating Majority-Black District

Louisiana Republicans approved a new congressional map that dismantles a Democratic-held majority-Black seat, boosting their chances in November's midterm elections. The state Senate passed the bill along party lines after it cleared the House earlier this week.

The map reconfigures the state’s sixth congressional district, currently represented by Cleo Fields, a Black Democrat. According to multiple reports, the new boundaries cluster his Baton Rouge-centered district around predominantly white communities while adding part of Baton Rouge to a heavily Democratic majority-Black district based in New Orleans.

The state joined several other Republican-led Southern states that have rushed to break up Democratic seats with significant Black populations after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in April severely weakened legal protections for such districts. The map passed the state House of Representatives on Thursday and was approved 28-10 by the state Senate on Friday along party lines.

The bill now goes to Republican Governor Jeff Landry, who is expected to sign it. Democratic lawmakers criticized the map as an effort to disenfranchise Black voters, while Republicans argued that they drew the lines solely based on partisanship, not race according to Reuters. The wave of Southern redistricting efforts is part of a national battle over congressional maps ahead of the midterm elections.

The Supreme Court struck down the 2024 map as an illegal racial gerrymander, opening the door for Louisiana and other states to target majority-minority districts. Landry postponed the May 16 U.S. House primary elections to give lawmakers time to draw the new map, which breaks up Democratic Representative Cleo Fields' district.

According to Al Jazeera, Republicans considered a map giving them a shot at winning all six of Louisiana’s U.S. House seats but decided against it due to potential backfiring with GOP losses. The approved map reflects Republican arguments that a 5-1 split is safer for the GOP and better protects U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson from facing a difficult reelection.

During the Senate debate, Democrats contended that the proposed map is racially gerrymandered to squeeze more Black voters into a single district. The bill’s sponsor, Republican state Sen. Jay Morris, insisted that party affiliation, not race, drove district boundaries. Democratic state Sen. Sam Jenkins warned that the map could lead to legal trouble.

Louisiana is currently using a court-ordered map drawn in 2024 to comply with the Voting Rights Act by including a second district with a majority-Black population. That map, however, was challenged in court, and the Supreme Court struck it down as an illegal racial gerrymander on April 30.

Landry postponed the state’s closed U.S. House primary slated for May 16 and later signed a law making the U.S. primary open and shifted the date to Nov. 3 to allow time for Republican lawmakers to draw and pass a new map. All candidates, regardless of party affiliation, will be on the ballot for voters in their district.

The proposed map redraws Democratic U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields’ district, clustering it around predominantly white communities in the Baton Rouge area and southern Louisiana. It also adds part of Baton Rouge to a heavily Democratic, majority-Black district based in New Orleans currently represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Troy Carter.

More lawsuits were expected over the new map. Democrats say the proposed map could draw a lawsuit over racial gerrymandering. Meanwhile, the plaintiffs in the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision criticized the Legislature’s map earlier this week for leaving a majority-Black district in place.