Louisiana Republicans pass new electoral map that guts majority-Black district

The GOP-friendly map approved by state lawmakers now goes to Republican governor who is expected to sign it Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email Louisiana Republicans approved a new congressional map on Friday which would eliminate a majority-Black congressional district that was at the center of a landmark supreme court ruling gutting section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The new map reconfigures the state’s sixth congressional district, now represented by Cleo Fields, a Black Democrat. Lawmakers drew the district in 2024 after a court found the map lawmakers enacted after the 2020 census diluted the influence of Black voters and violated section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The new map will probably give Republicans control of five of Louisiana’s six congressional seats (the previous map had a 4-2 Republican-Democrat split). The bill now goes to Louisiana’s Republican governor, Jeff Landry, who is expected to sign it. “It does exactly what it was designed to do: consolidate white political power by cracking Black communities apart and drowning their votes in Republican-dominated districts,” said the Louisiana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which opposed