Louisiana says it will delay election so it can gerrymander, citing Supreme Court

Louisiana officials made clear Thursday that the state’s primaries will be postponed so lawmakers can draw a new congressional map in response to Wednesday’s Supreme Court ruling that gutted the Voting Rights Act.

The move will likely give the GOP either one or two additional seats in this year’s midterms, and beyond. Republicans currently hold four out of the state’s six congressional seats.

“Yesterday’s historic Supreme Court victory for Louisiana has an immediate consequence for the State,” Gov. Jeff Landry (R) and Attorney General Liz Murrill (R) said in a joint statement. “The Supreme Court previously stayed an injunction against the State’s enforcement of the current Congressional map. By the Court’s order, however, that stay automatically terminated with yesterday’s decision. Accordingly, the State is currently enjoined from carrying out congressional elections under the current map. We are working together with the Legislature and the Secretary of State’s office to develop a path forward.” 

The announcement — which comes even after mail ballots have been sent out and with early voting due to start Saturday — underscores how, after Wednesday’s ruling, GOP-led states are rushing to redraw their maps. They’re eager to eliminate Democratic-held majority-minority districts, which were created to comply with the VRA’s requirement that Black and brown voters be given fair representation.

In its ruling in Callais v. Louisiana, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority struck down a Louisiana district that had been drawn to comply with the Voting Rights Act. 

Other southern states, including Tennessee and Alabama, have signalled they’re eager to redraw their maps to eliminate majority-minority districts, too. Florida passed a new map Wednesday, just hours after the ruling came down, that could give the GOP four new seats.