Louisiana will hold several primary elections on Thursday, including for the US Senate, the state Supreme Court and a range of local offices. Notably absent, however, will be the party primaries for Democrats and Republicans to select candidates for six state House districts.
The primary vote was suspended by Governor Jeff Landry after a landmark Supreme Court ruling that paved the way for redrawing the state's congressional maps, eliminating one of two majority-Black districts. Civil rights groups have objected to the suspension, arguing it violates both federal and state constitutions.
The Supreme Court's ruling
The 6-3 Supreme Court ruling in late April invalidated a key provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which was designed to protect Black voting power from being diluted. Dilution can be achieved by splitting up districts with large Black populations to reduce their electoral influence. The ruling held that districts can only be challenged if there is evidence of a racist motive behind how they are drawn. Critics argue such motives will be extremely difficult to prove.
Directly affecting Louisiana, the court ruled that a map drawn in January 2024, which created a second majority-Black district, was unconstitutional. That map was created after a legal challenge alleging Louisiana violated the Voting Rights Act by having only one majority-Black district out of six, despite Black voters making up one-third of the state's electorate.
Reason for suspending the primary
The Supreme Court's April 29 ruling came about two weeks before Louisiana's House primary was scheduled to take place, prompting Republican state legislators to rush to draw new maps.
Governor Jeff Landry declared on April 30: “Allowing an election to proceed under an unconstitutional map would undermine the integrity of the system and violate the rights of voters.” He said the suspension “ensures we comply with the law while giving the legislature the time it needs to pass a fair and lawful map.” On Wednesday, Republican state senators in Louisiana advanced an initial redrawn map.
Reaction from civil rights groups
A coalition of civil rights and voting groups has objected to the election suspension, alleging that some voters, including military personnel or absentee voters, may have already cast ballots. They argue the sudden change will confuse and disenfranchise voters, and undermine voter education groups that have already distributed information about the election.
In a joint statement earlier in May, groups including the Legal Defense Fund, the League of Women Voters of Louisiana, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Harvard Law School Clinic on Racial Justice said: “This unlawful executive order threatens the integrity of our democratic system and ignores the voices of voters who have already cast ballots in good faith in the May primary... By attempting to suspend an ongoing election, state officials are creating confusion, eroding public trust and putting partisan interests ahead of the constitutional rights of Louisiana voters.”
Broader context
The showdown in Louisiana comes amid a wave of unusual congressional redistricting across the United States. Redistricting normally takes place every decade after the census, but last year, President Trump called on Republican lawmakers in Texas to redraw maps to create more Republican-leaning districts. This sparked a series of tit-for-tat redistricting efforts between Democratic- and Republican-controlled state legislatures. So far, states including California, Missouri, Ohio, Virginia, Utah, Tennessee and Florida have redrawn maps ahead of the midterm elections. Republicans are expected to gain more seats than Democrats in this race, but Democrats are still projected to win back control of the House in November.
