Louisiana lawmakers approve a congressional map with a second Black-majority district

CNN —

Louisiana lawmakers on Friday approved a new congressional map that gives the state a second Black-majority US House district and likely puts at risk a Republican-controlled seat.

The legislative action, taken during a special session called to comply with a federal court order, represents a win for Democrats and the civil rights groups that have waged a long-running legal battle over congressional boundaries approved by Louisiana’s Republican-controlled legislature in 2022. A federal judge had concluded that the earlier map discriminated against Louisiana’s Black voters, who make up nearly a third of the state’s population but accounted for a majority of voters in just one of the Bayou State’s six congressional districts.

Louisiana’s special session and other ongoing skirmishes over redistricting have been closely watched in Washington, where Republicans currently hold a threadbare-majority in the US House of Representatives. The outcome of fights over district lines could shape which party controls the chamber after November’s elections.

The legislation establishing new districts is now headed to Louisiana’s newly installed Republican Gov. Jeff Landry, who is expected to sign it.

The legislation “finally offers Black voters in a second congressional district the opportunity to elect their preferred candidates,” Ashley Shelton, the founder and CEO of the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice – a plaintiff in one of the legal battles over the maps – said in a statement.

Former US Attorney General Eric Holder, chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, said the new map “delivers significant progress for Black Louisianans,” but lamented that it took a protracted legal battle to achieve