LouisianaRedistrictingVoting RightsSupreme CourtCongress
Louisiana Republicans Advance Redistricting Plan to Eliminate Majority-Black Congressional District
Published: May 10, 2026
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Louisiana Republican lawmakers advanced a proposal Friday to dismantle at least one of the state's two majority-Black congressional districts, a move that would effectively erase a Democratic-held seat and consolidate Republican electoral advantage. The action follows last week's U.S. Supreme Court decision that weakened a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, allowing the state legislature to redraw district boundaries without requiring federal preclearance.
At an eight-hour hearing in Baton Rouge, Black members of Congress, civil rights leaders, pastors, and voters delivered impassioned testimony condemning the plan. Leona Tate, a civil rights icon who helped desegregate New Orleans schools in 1960, told state senators the proposal echoed the same exclusionary tactics she faced as a child. Mike McClanahan, president of the Louisiana NAACP, was blocked from entering the hearing by security personnel, drawing outrage from attendees.
The current map includes two Democratic districts where Black voters form a majority, despite making up roughly one-third of the state's population. Republicans control the other four districts and hold the state legislature. The new map could reduce Black voter influence by merging or reshaping districts ahead of the 2024 elections. The Senate committee did not vote Friday but is expected to take up the measure again next week.
The Supreme Court's ruling, which reversed a lower court's finding of intentional racial discrimination in the prior map, has energized Republican redistricting efforts across the South. Similar challenges are underway in Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana, where the new maps could shift the balance of power in the U.S. House.
The Louisiana Senate committee is scheduled to reconvene Tuesday to consider amendments and hold a vote on the proposed congressional map.