Republicans in the Louisiana legislature have passed a new congressional map that protects House GOP leadership but will likely result in a net loss of one Republican seat in the state’s congressional delegation.
The map, passed in the state legislature by an 86-16 margin in the state House and 27-11 margin in the state Senate on Friday, creates a second black-majority congressional district in the state after a federal judge ruled one must be created. The new map makes Rep. Garret Graves’s (R-LA) seat the new black majority district, meaning the GOP will almost certainly lose the seat given the Democratic Party’s dominance with black voters.
Gov. Jeff Landry (R-LA) is expected to sign the bill authorizing the new map into law after endorsing the proposal earlier this week and arguing it is better than letting a court draw the new map.
“These maps will satisfy the court and ensure that the congressional districts of our state are made right here in this legislature and not by some heavy-handed federal judge,” Landry said earlier this week.
A federal judge had given the legislature until Jan. 30 to install a compliant congressional map.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) were spared from having their districts’ partisan makeup radically changed, but Johnson was not happy with the map, which will likely cost the GOP a seat.
We’ve just seen, and are very concerned with, the proposed Congressional map presented in the Louisiana Legislature. 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…
— Mike Johnson (@MikeJohnson) January 16, 2024
“We’ve just seen, and are very concerned with, the proposed Congressional map presented in the Louisiana Legislature. 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,” he said in a post on X on Tuesday.
“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 added.
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Republicans are likely to lose seats in the House of Representatives in other states due to court-ordered redistricting in various other states, including New York and Alabama, but are also poised to pick up seats in North Carolina due to redistricting.
The GOP maintains a fragile 220-213 majority in the House, with the election in November for control of the chamber expected to be a tight battle.