The Lousiana legislature is set to consider a new congressional map in the coming days that would likely draw Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA) out of his current district, giving Democrats a chance to control another seat and further complicating national Republicans’ plans to keep control of the House.

The map, authored by state GOP Sen. Glen Womack and supported by newly sworn-in Gov. Jeff Landry (R-LA), that is widely expected to pass the legislature and be signed into law would change Graves’s district from a safe Republican seat to one that is a relatively safe Democratic district.

Back in June, the Supreme Court dismissed Louisiana‘s bid to prevent the state’s voting map from being redrawn over allegations that it unlawfully diluted the power of black voters. It required the state to draw a new map that created another district where most voters were black. This followed a June 8 ruling that relied on the landmark Voting Rights Act in a similar case regarding redistricting in Alabama. But the map itself has not yet gone through a merits trial, which leads Republicans to argue the legislature should pause the process of redrawing the new maps.

“Louisiana has a defensible map in place now and an opportunity to finally defend it at trial,” said Adam Kincaid, president and executive director of the National Republican Redistricting Trust. “Given the choice between the existing map and what we’ve seen from Louisiana so far, it would make more sense to go to court with the current VRA-compliant map than a new one, especially given the litigation team the state has assembled.”

Graves’s current district stretches from the southern part of the state to Baton Rouge, and the surrounding area would instead start at the East Baton Rouge and West Baton Rouge parishes up to the western part of the state in the Caddo parish.

“It took 220 years, but Monroe and Livingston will be reunited once again for the second biggest political score in Louisiana history,” Graves said in a statement. “From Head of Island to Sicily Island; from St. Amant to St. Joseph; and from Oak Grove to, well, Oak Grove, legislation introduced today proposes to do what no Louisiana leader, nor Mother Nature, have ever been able to do: connect the Ouachita River Basin to the Amite River Basin.”

He further critiqued the map, saying it “combines Saints fans and Cowboys fans. Jefferson never contemplated this when he deployed emissaries Monroe and Livingston.”

On the day the legislature is set to consider the new maps, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) urged the legislature to defend the current map in court rather than redraw a new map absent a trial.

“We’ve just seen, and are very concerned with, the proposed Congressional map presented in the Louisiana Legislature,” Johnson said in a statement Tuesday. “It remains my position that the existing map is constitutional and that the legal challenge to it should be tried on merits so the State has adequate opportunity to defend its merits. Should the state not prevail at trial, there are multiple other map options that are legally compliant and do not require the unnecessary surrender of a Republican seat in Congress.”

Johnson met with Landry last week at his inauguration, but it is unclear whether they discussed the redistricting process or if Johnson expressed concerns about losing a Republican seat in his home state.

According to a source familiar, Johnson’s last-minute opposition to the proposed map is unlikely to have much of an effect on the process.

With an already slim majority, Johnson and House Republicans can’t afford this map to become law, which would go into effect for the 2024 elections, or else it would get rid of one safe Republican seat and open the door for Democrats to gain a seat in a state where the top two House Republicans reside, which is why some have been pushing for them to defend the current map in court. 

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Even though the state is home to the top two House Republicans, Johnson and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), who has not issued a position on the new map, Landry, the Republican governor, and the Republican-led state legislature are moving forward sometime this week with the new map as opposed to defending the current one.

“The reason to do this would be that they think they’re going to lose, which would go contrary to everything they’ve said publicly at this point, and they want to be able to draw the map themselves versus having a federal court draw it,” a GOP operative close to the process told the Washington Examiner.