Republican senators in Louisiana voted Wednesday to advance a redistricting plan that would eliminate one of the state’s two majority-Black U.S. House districts, acting after the U.S. Supreme Court last month struck down the current map as an illegal racial gerrymander. The move puts Louisiana at the center of a rapidly widening national redistricting fight that has already seen multiple Republican-led states act to redraw voting lines, with the potential to tip control of Congress in the November midterms.
The proposed new map, backed by state Sen. Jay Morris, would keep the New Orleans-based district of Democratic Rep. Troy Carter but drastically reshape the 6th District held by Rep. Cleo Fields, stretching northwest from Baton Rouge to Shreveport. That district would instead be clustered around predominantly white areas in southern Louisiana, leaving the state with a single Black-majority seat — a configuration nearly identical to the 2022 map that a federal judge struck down for violating the Voting Rights Act. “The new districts are very similar to those used in 2022 that resulted in five Republicans and one Democrat winning election,” Morris said.
Fields, a Baton Rouge resident, said he hasn’t decided whether to seek reelection but will not challenge Carter in a primary. “I’ve said from day one, I have no interest in running against Troy Carter. Period,” Fields told The Associated Press. “The real issue is not whether I serve another second in Congress. The real issue is whether or not a person like me will have the opportunity to serve in Congress.”
Republican Gov. Jeff Landry postponed the state’s U.S. House primaries, scheduled for Saturday, until at least July 15 to give lawmakers time to enact new districts. The state Senate may vote on the plan Thursday.
Georgia joined the rush on Wednesday, as Gov. Brian Kemp called a special legislative session beginning June 17 — the day after runoff elections will settle party nominees for November — to redraw congressional, state Senate, and state House districts for the 2028 elections. Kemp’s proclamation, the first to target a post‑2026 map since the high court ruling, avoids changing districts for this year’s midterms, where some ballots have already been cast. But by acting now, Georgia Republicans can protect a new map from a possible Democratic governor’s veto in 2027. Five of Georgia’s 14 House members are Black Democrats, and the easiest target for Republicans could be the southwest Georgia district held by Rep. Sanford Bishop, though any reshuffling risks making more GOP-held seats competitive. The order also allows redrawing state legislative districts, where a court had previously ordered changes to strengthen Black voting power.
Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock immediately condemned the effort. “There is an extreme movement in this country that will stop at nothing to hold on to power, even if it means stripping representation away from millions,” he wrote in an online post, adding he would “fight this with everything I have.”
The redistricting wave follows the Supreme Court’s April ruling that Louisiana’s congressional map relied too heavily on race, weakening the protections of the federal Voting Rights Act. Since then, Tennessee and Alabama have already enacted new House maps, and GOP officials estimate the party could gain up to 15 seats from redrawn districts in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Florida, Tennessee and Alabama, while Democrats could gain six seats from new maps in California and Utah. A similar effort in South Carolina stalled in the state Senate on Tuesday but may not be over.
In Mississippi, Republican Gov. Tate Reeves on Wednesday called off a planned special session to redraw state Supreme Court districts after a federal appeals court temporarily lifted an order requiring changes. He said he expects lawmakers to redraw congressional, legislative and Supreme Court districts before the 2027 elections, possibly targeting the seat of Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, the only Democrat in the state’s House delegation.
The national redistricting battle — which has already touched about one-third of the states — began last year when President Donald Trump urged Texas Republicans to redraw House districts and Democrats in California responded with their own. With control of the closely divided House at stake, redistricting is expected to remain a dominant political weapon through the 2028 cycle.