BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — With bipartisan support, a proposed Louisiana congressional map that would create a second majority-Black district sailed through the state Senate on Wednesday and will advance to the House chamber for debate.
The Senate’s approval is a win for Democrats who have long demanded a second majority-minority district, arguing that the congressional map currently in place discriminates against Black voters, who make up one-third of Louisiana’s population. A second majority-Black district could also result in another Democratic seat in Congress.
Louisiana is on the list of states still wrangling over congressional districts after the U.S. Supreme Court in June ruled that Alabama had violated the Voting Rights Act.
Officials have until Jan. 30 to pass new congressional boundaries with a second majority-minority district in Louisiana. If they do not meet the deadline, a district court will hold a trial and “decide on a plan for the 2024 elections,” according to a November court order by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth District. A judge on the district court signaled that she will create a map by herself if lawmakers don’t complete the task.
For more than a year, Republicans have resisted drawing another minority district, saying that the current map, which has white majorities in five of six congressional districts, is fair and constitutional.
But there is a reinvigorated push to pass a map with a second majority-minority district, spurred by the looming deadline; an attorney general who says all legal remedies have been exhausted; and a new conservative governor who is urging the GOP-dominated Legislature to pass congressional boundaries that satisfy the court.
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