Louisiana lawmakers approve congressional map with Republican bias

Louisiana Legislature Approves New Congressional Map

A new congressional map has been approved by Louisiana lawmakers, which will help Republicans pick up a seat in the US House of Representatives. The map eliminates one of the state’s two majority-Black districts, following an April Supreme Court ruling that struck down Louisiana’s current map as an illegal racial gerrymander.

The decision comes after the US Supreme Court ruled in the case Louisiana v Callais that the current map was drawn to include two majority-Black districts. This ruling weakened the landmark 1965 federal Voting Rights Act, which aims to prevent discrimination against minorities at the ballot box.

The new map will give Republicans a shot at winning all six of Louisiana’s US House seats. However, it does not require adding more registered Democrats to Republican-held districts, which could have potentially backfired with Republican losses.

The proposed map was approved by the Louisiana state Senate in a 28-to-10 vote. Republican Governor Jeff Landry is expected to sign the new map into law. The bill’s sponsor, Republican state Senator Jay Morris, stated that party affiliation drove the new district boundaries.

The new map redraws a district currently represented by Democratic Representative Cleo Fields, 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, represented by Democratic Representative Troy Carter.

A half-hour Senate floor debate revolved around Democrats’ concerns that the proposed map is racially gerrymandered to squeeze more Black voters into a single district. The bill’s sponsor and other lawmakers disagreed on this point.

The new map will be implemented after Landry postponed the state’s closed US House primary, which was scheduled for May 16. The date of the primary has been shifted to November 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.

More lawsuits are expected over the new map.

Source: Al Jazeera