Louisiana is pressing ahead with several primary elections this week, but not for the state’s six U.S. House districts. Governor Jeff Landry paused those House contests after a Supreme Court ruling on April 29 opened the door to redrawing the congressional map just two weeks before voters were due to cast ballots.
The timing leaves the state with an unusual split: Senate, Supreme Court and local races are still on the ballot this week, while the House primaries wait on a new map. Landry said on April 30 that allowing elections to proceed under an unconstitutional map would undermine the integrity of the system and violate voters’ rights. He said the suspension would uphold the rule of law while giving lawmakers time to pass a fair and lawful congressional plan.
The ruling at the center of the fight struck down a January 2024 map that created a second Black-majority district in Louisiana. That map had been drawn after a legal challenge argued the state violated the Voting Rights Act because it had only one Black-majority district out of six even though Black residents make up one-third of the state’s voters. By a 6-3 vote, the court said congressional districts could only be challenged if there was evidence of racist motivation behind how they were drawn.
For voters, the disruption is immediate. A coalition of voting and civil rights groups has challenged the suspension, saying some people, including those in the military or voting absentee, may have already cast ballots. The groups also warned that changing the date so abruptly would confuse voters, disenfranchise them and undercut education efforts already underway to explain the election.
The Louisiana State Senate moved on Wednesday to advance an initial redrawn map, a sign that the state is trying to move quickly to restore a congressional election calendar that can survive legal scrutiny. The dispute is not just about one state’s boundaries. It is part of a larger redistricting battle over how the Voting Rights Act is applied, and the court’s April 29 ruling removed a key safeguard long used to protect Black voting power from being diluted. That gives the outcome national weight as both parties prepare for midterm elections that will decide control of the U.S. House and Senate.
For now, the question is no longer whether Louisiana will vote this week. It is whether the state can produce a map in time to put its House races back on the calendar without leaving voters behind.
