Louisiana Approves New Voting Map Eliminating a Majority-Black District

You might recall that Louisiana’s primary was two weeks ago. That was when Bill Cassidy lost a chance at returning to the Senate for not being quite MAGA enough for his party’s tastes. Voting in that primary had already begun when the Supreme Court further eviscerated the Voting Rights Act on April 29, with Justice Alito writing that States were being forced into “the very race-based discrimination that the Constitution forbids.” Yes, the decision was that Louisiana was being forced to discriminate by drawing two of six majority-Black districts in a state with a 30.5% Black population.

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry immediately suspended the ongoing election, canceling more than 40,000 already cast votes. Never in modern history have votes cast in a federal election been canceled by a state so it could redraw the maps. Today, the state legislature passed its new maps with one less majority-Black district.

In 2022, when federal courts had declared their initial map unconstitutional, the Republican legislature declared that it was too close to an election to make any immediate changes. That did not stop them this year, even though the election was already in progress. 

Absurdly, the new primary is now scheduled for Nov. 3, the same day as the general election, in effect returning Louisiana to its “jungle primary” days.

GOP lawmakers had considered trying to get rid of both majority-Black districts, but that could have resulted in making existing Republican representatives vulnerable to a dummymander, including the possible result of House Speaker Mike Johnson losing his seat.

Since the Supreme Court ruling, Florida and Tennessee have also redrawn their maps, and Alabama is currently fighting for the right to do so, even though the state courts have blocked those efforts for now. And Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has called a special session to redraw the maps for 2028. 

In a year when all four Black Republican U.S. representatives are leaving the house, the GOP is doing everything it can to reduce Black representation throughout the South. The so-called “party of Lincoln” has managed to undo decades of Civil Rights victories in a last-gasp attempt to consolidate power.

Keep scrolling for more great stories.