Louisiana’s Republican governor, Jeff Landry, issued an executive order Thursday suspending the state’s U.S. House primary, a move that came just two days before early voting was to open. The suspension was triggered by a Supreme Court ruling that struck down a majority Black congressional district and significantly weakened minority protections under the Voting Rights Act.
The high court’s Wednesday decision found that Louisiana lawmakers had relied too heavily on race when drawing the district represented by Democratic Rep. Cleo Fields. The ruling effectively invalidated the district and threw the state’s congressional maps into legal limbo. Landry said the order was necessary to uphold the rule of law.
“Allowing elections to proceed under an unconstitutional map would undermine the integrity of our system and violate the rights of our voters,” Landry said in a statement. “This executive order ensures we uphold the rule of law while giving the Legislature the time it needs to pass a fair and lawful congressional map.”
The Republican-led Louisiana Legislature is expected to redraw the maps before its regular session ends in a month, legislative leaders said.
The suspension triggered a wave of political reactions. President Donald Trump praised Landry on social media and called the move “the right thing to do.” He also urged Republican officials in Tennessee to redraw that state’s congressional districts ahead of the midterm elections. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, indicated the national party views the ruling as a green light for more partisan mapmaking.
“I think all states who have unconstitutional maps should look at that very carefully, and I think they should do it before the midterm,” Johnson told reporters in Washington.
On Thursday night, a three-judge federal appeals court panel issued a brief order suspending Louisiana’s House election until new maps are drawn—a move some legal experts called premature. Marc Elias, a prominent Democratic election attorney, said he filed a lawsuit challenging Landry’s order.
Election delays are unusual but not unprecedented. In 2020, then-Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards postponed Louisiana’s presidential primary because of the COVID-19 pandemic, pushing it from April to July.
The redistricting fight in Louisiana is the latest in a decade of legal battles over the state’s political representation. After the 2020 census, the Legislature drew a map with just one Black-majority district. A federal judge struck it down, and in 2024 lawmakers created a second Black-majority district. That map was also challenged, leading to the Supreme Court’s latest ruling.
The court’s decision has hastened redistricting efforts elsewhere. In Florida, lawmakers approved a new map backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) just hours after the Supreme Court’s ruling, with some analysts projecting the GOP could gain several additional seats.
Louisiana Republican Misti Cordell, a candidate for the seat vacated by Rep. Julia Letlow, said Landry called candidates before announcing the suspension to prepare them.
“It’s an inconvenience for a candidate for sure, but you know they want to do it right versus having to go through all this again,” Cordell said.
State Sen. Royce Duplessis, a Democrat from New Orleans, called the suspension a backward move that could dilute minority influence.
“This is going to cause mass confusion among voters—Democrats, Republicans, white, Black, everybody,” Duplessis said. “What they’re effectively doing is changing the rules of the game in the middle of the game. It’s rigging the system.”
Republicans pushed back, arguing the court’s ruling justified swift action. The partisan battle over redistricting is expected to intensify as more states consider redrawing district lines ahead of the November midterms.