Louisiana Enacts New Congressional Map Aimed at Gaining GOP Seat

Louisiana enacted a new map of congressional districts Friday that is designed to help Republicans pick up a seat while eliminating one of the state’s two majority-Black House districts, both of which are represented by Democrats. Jeff Landry signed the plan hours after it overwhelmingly passed the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature.

Approval of the new House map came a month after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Louisiana’s current map as an illegal racial gerrymander.

The Louisiana Legislature passed the map in a 28-10 state Senate vote along party lines. The bill’s sponsor, Republican state Sen. Jay Morris, said he told map demographers to avoid including any data on race. “I purposely put more Democrats into District 2 to make the remaining districts better performing for Republicans,” Morris said.

Democrats contend that the new map is racially gerrymandered to squeeze more Black voters into a single district. Royce Duplessis pointed out during floor debate that some other Southern states had refused to redraw their maps in the middle of an election year.

More litigation is expected. " — Republican state Sen.