Who Gets Squeezed First
Louisiana state senators passed a new U.S. House map Thursday that would eliminate one of the state’s two majority-Black congressional districts and give Republicans a likely extra House seat, while South Carolina’s governor called lawmakers back into session to continue redistricting work ahead of the midterms. The people at the bottom of the map-making machine are once again the ones expected to absorb the damage: Black voters, Democratic voters, and anyone whose district gets carved up to serve the needs of incumbents.
The Louisiana plan still needs House approval and would be used for primary elections that were poised to be postponed from Saturday until November. Republican Gov. Jeff Landry had already postponed Louisiana’s U.S. House primaries after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the state’s congressional map two weeks earlier. The new bill would shift the election to an open primary on Nov. 3, with all U.S. House candidates on the ballot regardless of party affiliation. If no one wins a majority, the top two vote-getters would advance to a runoff on Dec. 12. A new qualifying period for House candidates would run from Aug. 5-7.
What the Map Does to People
The Louisiana legislation seeks to address the Supreme Court ruling by scrapping a district that snakes more than 200 miles, or 321 kilometers, northwest from Baton Rouge to Shreveport and created a voting bloc with a majority of Black residents. Democratic U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields represents the current 6th District. Under the new plan, that district would instead be clustered around predominantly white communities in the Baton Rouge area and southern Louisiana. The new plan keeps a New Orleans-based, majority-Black district represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Troy Carter while also adding a portion of Baton Rouge to it.
Fields, a Baton Rouge resident, said he won’t decide whether to seek reelection until the maps are finalized, but said he won’t challenge Carter in a primary. Republican state Sen. Jay Morris said the new map packs Democrats into the 2nd District held by Carter to allow Republicans to prevail elsewhere. Morris said, “These maps are drawn to maximize Republican advantage for the incumbent Republicans that we have in Congress.” Democratic state Sen. Sam Jenkins said Republicans are “using partisanship as cover for discriminatory practices against a group of people, particularly Black voters and Democrats.” Jenkins said, “If it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck.” Morris replied, “It’s not quacking.” Jenkins answered, “It’s quacking pretty loud, it’s quacking all over the state.”
Republican senators defeated an alternative from Democrats that would have kept two Democratic-leaning districts. Louisiana Senate President Cameron Henry said Republicans opted not to pursue a 6-0 Republican map because it was infeasible.
The Court, the Legislature, and the Same Old Game
The U.S. Supreme Court had struck down Louisiana’s 2022 map for violating the Voting Rights Act. In 2023, the court ruled that Alabama had to create its own second largely Black congressional district. In light of the Alabama ruling, the Louisiana Legislature passed a revised map creating a second majority-Black district that was used in the 2024 elections. That map was later challenged, leading to the April 29 Supreme Court ruling that Louisiana’s districts relied too heavily on race.
Republican Gov. Henry McMaster of South Carolina called a special session on redistricting to start Friday after the regular legislative session ended Thursday. Republican House Majority Leader Davey Hiott said it could be next week before the House finishes the redistricting bill, which would also move congressional primaries to August. Hiott said all primaries are currently scheduled for June 9, early voting begins May 26, and that may be the deadline to finish redistricting. Hiott said, “The redistricting work will be long. It will be boring. It will be confrontational.” If the proposal passes the House, it would go to the Senate, where Republican Judiciary Committee Chairman Luke Rankin has said he will “demand the process” without elaborating.
During the last regular redistricting at the start of the decade, Rankin’s committee held a month of meetings across the state and encouraged the public to submit its own maps. Only one of South Carolina’s seven U.S. House seats is currently held by a Democrat, longtime U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn. Some Republicans worry it is impossible to guarantee seven GOP districts in a state where the Democratic presidential candidate has gotten more than 40% of the vote every election this century. South Carolina’s elections leader said it may require employees to work 24 hours a day.
Republicans think they could win as many as 15 additional House seats in seven states that already have adopted new voting districts. Democrats think they could gain up to six seats from two other states because of new House districts. Democrats had hoped to win up to four additional seats from new House districts in Virginia, but Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s office confirmed Thursday that the state will hold this year’s elections under the current districts as it appeals last week’s Virginia Supreme Court ruling invalidating a voter-approved amendment authorizing the new districts.