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Republicans in Louisiana state Senate advance map eliminating Democratic House district

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by Sarah Davis - 05/13/26 12:31 PM ET

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by Sarah Davis - 05/13/26 12:31 PM ET

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Louisiana state lawmakers voted early Wednesday morning to eliminate one of two majority-Black congressional voting districts in the state — the latest in a bitter redistricting fight between Republicans and Democrats.

The state’s Senate and Government Affairs Committee voted 4-3 along party lines at 4:30 a.m. on Wednesday to advance a GOP-led redistricting effort after almost 10 hours of deliberation. A floor vote on the legislation is expected in the Louisiana Senate on Thursday, after which it will head to the lower chamber for consideration.

Louisiana Senate Bill 121 could net Republicans in the Pelican State a 5-1 majority in the U.S. House by breaking up the state’s majority-Black House District 6, which is currently held by Rep. Cleo Fields (D).

Rep. Troy Carter (D-La.), who represents the state’s 2nd House District, is the only other Democrat from Louisiana in Congress. Under the proposed new map, the second district would expand to cover Baton Rouge, an area previously included in Fields’s district.

The committee rejected a Democrat-led proposal to create two new districts where Democratic candidates would be competitive. Neither of these proposed districts were majority-Black.

Carter urged the state legislature to adopt some of this Democratic proposal’s “core principles” into SB 121 in a Wednesday statement shared on social media.

“SB 407 offered a fair and balanced approach by creating two districts in which African American communities would remain relatively whole, thereby preserving the opportunity for African American voters to elect candidates of their choosing,” the lawmaker wrote on social platform X.

“As this process moves forward, I will continue advocating for fairness, equity, and representation that truly reflects the demographics and voices of our great state,” he added.

The Supreme Court cleared the way for this redistricting effort in its 6-3 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais earlier this month. The high court declared the state’s existing congressional map an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, which GOP lawmakers in the state begrudgingly adopted to appease voting rights advocates.

The decision weakened a central provision of the Voting Rights Act.

Fields told CNN following the ruling that his constituents were “really upset” by the Supreme Court’s decision in this case.

“There’s not a single African American ever elected to Congress from Louisiana from a majority-white district,” he told CNN’s Laura Coates. “People unfortunately vote on racial lines … and the courts in the past have recognized that.”

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