BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — The Louisiana Legislature approved a new U.S. congressional voting map on Friday, Jan. 19. The special session adjourned right after at 2:30 p.m.
The map, proposed by state Sen. Glen Womack, nearly cuts the 4th district covering western Louisiana in half with the 6th district. It’s drawn as a narrow, diagonal arm that runs from northwest Louisiana to Baton Rouge.
The House voted 86-16 to pass the map, and the Senate approved it 27-11. It will go to Gov. Jeff Landry for his approval or veto.
“Once signed, this map becomes the newest pronouncement of law by the Legislature. Now that the people’s representatives have spoken, I will exercise my Constitutional duty and defend Louisiana’s new Congressional districts,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a statement.
Members of the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus were rejoicing after their two-year fight to gain a new majority-minority district in Congress.
“Because now we have done what many people thought we could not do and we have prevailed,” said state Rep. Matther Willard (D-New Orleans).
The new Black district greatly rewrites District 06, which is currently held by U.S. Rep. Garret Graves (R-Louisiana).
Some significant changes were made to the other Republican congressmen’s districts to protect their incumbency, according to Womack.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do. And so that means that we’ve got to register people to vote,” said state Rep. Edmond Jordan (D-Baton Rouge). “We’ve got to get them out to the polls to ensure that the work that we’ve done actually comes to fruition.”
The Legislature started the special session on Monday, Jan. 15 to redraw the state’s congressional map. Landry also wanted the session to tackle Supreme Court districts and among about a dozen topics.
“The Governor shared with us his commitment to ending the redistricting litigation so the legislature could quickly focus on the issues that will make Louisiana an even better place to live and work,” Speaker of the House Phillip DeVillier said in a news release. “We didn’t want a federal judge to do it for us.”
A federal judge ruled that the previous map violates the Voting Rights Act. Victoria Wenger, an NAACP Legal Defense Fund attorney, said at a news conference Monday that if lawmakers pass the same map or fail to pass a new one, then a trial is set for Feb. 5.
“Finding solutions to end the federal litigation holding the state back needed to happen,” said Senate President Cameron Henry.
U.S. Rep. Troy Carter (D-Louisiana) said in a news release that the state did what’s right for future generations. “Math prevailed.”
“It has been a tough fight to get a congressional map that fairly represents every Louisianian, specifically creating two districts that give African Americans equal representation. So many have worked tirelessly to make this historic moment happen – the NAACP, the Urban League, the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus, and many others,” Carter said.
This story will be updated.
