Louisiana lawmakers gave final approval Friday to a congressional redistricting plan that adds a second majority-Black district to the state’s U.S. House lineup, likely at the expense of U.S. Rep. Garret Graves, a Republican from Baton Rouge.
State lawmakers passed a plan that creates a second majority Black congressional district that stretches from Caddo Parish in northwest Louisiana to East Baton Rouge Parish, slashing across the center of the state. It now goes to Gov. Jeff Landry’s desk, where he is expected to sign the bill into law.
“The outcome of this special session is a win for the people of Louisiana… we took the pen out of the hand of a non-elected judge and placed it in the hands of the people,” Landry said in a press release.
The plan is in response to a court order in the case Robinson v. Landry, in which Black voters sued to block the implementation of a congressional district map the legislature approved in 2022 that has only one majority-Black district. U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick, an appointee of former President Barack Obama who is presiding over the case, gave lawmakers until Jan. 31 to redraw the lines to comply with the Voting Rights Act.