The Louisiana Senate approved a new U.S. congressional map on May 14.
The legislation, which advanced 27–10 along party lines on Thursday afternoon, will redraw one of the Pelican State’s two majority-Democratic U.S. House districts ahead of the midterm elections.
The redistricted map will give Republicans an advantage in five of six U.S. House seats while it eliminates a Democrat-leaning district that stretched from Shreveport to Baton Rouge.
The decision prompted Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry to issue an executive order on April 30 that suspended Louisiana’s primary elections on May 16 only for the congressional seats. It did not suspend the May 16 elections for other offices and ballot measures.
The bill now heads to the state House to be considered. If it passes, it will go to Landry’s desk, where the Republican is expected to sign it.
The Epoch Times contacted Landry for comment.
U.S. Rep. Troy A. Carter (D-La.) voiced his disappointment that SB 121 advanced in the Senate on May 13 after a Democrat-supported proposal to redraw the maps, SB 407, failed in committee.
“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,” Carter wrote in a statement on May 13.
Carter represents U.S. Congressional District 2 in Louisiana, which covers sections of New Orleans and south of Baton Rouge.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed a new congressional map into law on May 7 after it sped through the state legislature.
The Volunteer State’s new map made all U.S. House seats lean Republican after it carved Memphis, a Democratic district, into three different districts.
The decision prompted controversy and loud protests inside the Capitol from some activist groups and Democratic state lawmakers. Demonstrators shouted, burned objects, and disrupted meetings and votes.
Separately, redistricting efforts in South Carolina failed after senators, including a handful of Republicans, rejected a bid to redraw the state’s congressional map on May 12. The proposal was expected to eliminate the state’s only Democratic U.S. House seat.
Jill McLaughlin and Matthew Vadum contributed to this report.
