This story was originally published by Louisiana Illuminator
A Louisiana legislative committee that oversees redistricting will meet Friday to hear public comments on a new congressional district map after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last week to overturn the existing version.
Sen. Caleb Kleinpeter, R-Port Allen, said the Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee, which he chairs, will likely favor a map that preserves one of the state’s two majority-Black U.S. House districts out of its six total seats. As of the 2020 census, nearly a third of Louisiana residents are Black.
After public testimony Friday, Kleinpeter said his committee will meet again early next week to vote on a map.
Kleinpeter indicated the remaining majority-Black district would likely be based in Baton Rouge, which favors the current 6th District U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge, an occasional ally of Gov. Jeff Landry, over U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, D-New Orleans, who has openly clashed with the governor.
Carter did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
At a news conference Monday afternoon, members of the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus said they would only support a map that preserves two majority-Black districts.
The U.S. Supreme Court struck down Louisiana’s existing congressional map Wednesday when it ruled state lawmakers had relied too heavily on the race of voters to draw the district lines. Specifically, the court challenged the legality of the additional majority-Black congressional district that Fields holds, spanning from Baton Rouge to Shreveport.
A day after the ruling, Landry suspended Louisiana’s party primary elections for its U.S. House seats, for which absentee voting was already underway and early voting began Saturday. Other races for the May 16 primary are going forward as scheduled, and multiple lawsuits have been filed to resume the House primaries.
Louisiana Secretary of State Nancy Landry, who is not related to the governor, has said the U.S. House races will remain on voter ballots, but any votes for candidates in those races will not be counted.
The governor’s order pushes the primary elections to July 15 unless the legislature selects another date.
Two years ago, state lawmakers configured the current U.S. House map in response to a federal court ruling on a version of the districts created in 2022. U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick of Louisiana’s Middle District, an appointee of President Barack Obama, directed the state to enhance minority voting power to adhere to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a landmark civil rights law created to bolster Black voting strength.
Last week’s Supreme Court ruling, authored by Justice Samuel Alito, scrutinized Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits voting laws or procedures that purposefully discriminate on the basis of race, color or membership in a language minority group.
“Allowing race to play any part in government decision-making represents a departure from the constitutional rule that applies in almost every other context,” wrote Alito, who was appointed to the court in 2005 by President George W. Bush.
Assuming Louisiana’s U.S. House elections remain suspended, Senate President Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, said in an interview Thursday lawmakers will have to revert to a “jungle” primary election system for the U.S. House races, It would place candidates from all parties on a single ballot, as opposed to the semi-closed party primaries being used for May 16.
But Kleinpeter said Monday it was still up for debate whether lawmakers would opt for an open or semi-closed primary for the U.S. House races.
Kleinpeter said Senate Bill 49, by Sen. Alan Seabaugh, R-Shreveport, could be amended to determine how the primaries will be held. Seabaugh’s original proposal would remove elections for seats on the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education from the state’s semi-closed party primary system next year.
This year is the first time Louisiana is using party primaries for its congressional races since 2010, with most political observers saying Gov. Landry pushed for their return to displace U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge. The incumbent fell out of favor with the far-right element of the GOP after he voted to convict President Donald Trump in his 2021 impeachment trial for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.