Louisiana suspended its congressional primaries on Thursday as early voting was set to start for the state’s May 16 contests, after the Supreme Court issued a ruling on Wednesday that struck down a majority-Black district and reduced the legal protections under the federal Voting Rights Act. The decision set off immediate political and legal moves across the state and prompted calls from Republicans elsewhere to accelerate redistricting efforts before the November midterms.
The suspension centered on the U.S. House primary that had been scheduled to move forward on May 16, with early voting due to begin Saturday. Landry issued an executive order postponing that House primary, saying in a statement that allowing the election to proceed under what he described as an unconstitutional map would undermine election integrity and violate voters’ rights. He said the order would keep the state’s process aligned with the rule of law while giving the Louisiana Legislature time to pass a new congressional map.
Louisiana officials said the postponement was limited to the House primary. The Republican-controlled secretary of state’s office declared an electoral emergency to support Landry’s move and said it would place notices at early voting sites so voters would know the congressional primary was suspended. All other races on the ballot were to proceed as scheduled.
The Supreme Court ruling and Landry’s order also triggered a rapid series of follow-up court actions. On Thursday night, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals that had heard the initial case and then saw it appealed to the Supreme Court issued a brief order suspending Louisiana’s House election until new maps are drawn, a move some legal experts described as premature. Marc Elias, a Democratic election attorney, announced that he would file a lawsuit challenging Landry’s postponement order.
Under Landry’s executive order, the House primary was postponed until either July 15 or a later date set by the Legislature, according to state leaders’ statements. Republican House and Senate leaders said they were prepared to pass new congressional districts and set a new election date before their regular session ended in about a month.
The legal and political moves unfolded as President Donald Trump used social media to praise Landry and urge similar action by other states. Trump, who described Landry as moving quickly to revise Louisiana’s congressional districts, also urged Republicans in Tennessee to do likewise following the Supreme Court’s decision. A Tennessee House speaker, Cameron Sexton, said he was in conversations while reviewing the ruling.
Democrats criticized the suspension and said the delay would disrupt voters. Louisiana state Sen. Royce Duplessis, a Democrat, called it a change to the rules during a voting period, saying it would cause “mass confusion among voters — Democrats, Republicans, white, Black, everybody,” and added that he viewed it as “rigging the system.” Republicans, by contrast, argued that the Supreme Court’s decision justified an intensified push to redraw House districts during a national redistricting period.
Republicans also framed the Supreme Court ruling as part of a broader effort to redraw districts before the November elections. House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters that states with what he called unconstitutional maps should review them carefully and do so before the midterm, linking the Court decision to a fast-moving redistricting cycle ahead of voters going to the polls.
Delaying elections is unusual, but examples exist. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Louisiana postponed its April 4 presidential primary three weeks before it was due, then delayed it again until July 11, as Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards led the state at the time.
Louisiana’s redistricting fight has broader implications for the national balance in the U.S. House. The state is currently represented by four Republicans and two Democrats, and a revised map could give Republicans an opportunity to win at least one additional seat in the November midterms. The decision also comes amid the momentum of a redistricting wave that has spread across states, with Trump previously urging Texas Republicans to redraw House districts for a possible midterm advantage and with redistricting efforts then cascading into other states.
Florida lawmakers, for example, adopted a new map for U.S. House districts earlier this week, with the changes supported by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, a move that occurred just hours after the Supreme Court’s ruling. In Tennessee, Democrats hold only one of the state’s nine House seats, which they said centers on a district in Memphis that is majority Black.
Louisiana’s current moment also reflects a long-running history of court challenges over the state’s congressional maps. After the 2020 census, Louisiana officials drew House districts that maintained one Black majority district and five mostly white districts in a state that is about one-third Black, according to the AP report. A federal judge later struck down that map for violating the Voting Rights Act, and subsequent litigation outcomes in other states, including Alabama, shaped how new districts were required to be drawn—while Louisiana officials later adopted a new House map in 2024 that created a second Black majority district, a map that also faced challenges that ultimately fed into the latest Supreme Court ruling.
After the Supreme Court ruling, Landry called U.S. House candidates on Wednesday and told them primaries would most likely be stalled, according to Misti Cordell, a Republican candidate in a crowded race to fill U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow’s vacated seat. Cordell said it was an inconvenience for candidates but that she understood the need to “do it right versus having to go through all this again,” adding that she appreciated the advance warning before candidates began spending their campaign resources in the final weeks leading up to Election Day.