Louisiana lawmakers OK new congressional maps, adding Black-majority district 

The Louisiana Legislature on Friday passed a new congressional map that adds a majority-black second district, jeopardizing the position of incumbent Rep. Garrett Graves (R-Louisiana).

The updated parliamentary map retains 2.^n.d. The 6th Congressional District will be majority black.^th Congressional district – represented by Mr. Graves – second in the state.

The map must be signed by Gov. Jeff Landry (R) before it can be enacted.

The new maps follow a long-running redistricting battle over state legislative boundaries that began about two years ago. Then-Governor John Bel Edwards (Democratic) violated the Voting Rights Act by creating only one congressional district with a black majority, even though blacks make up one-third of the state. He vetoed a set of maps passed by the state Legislature in 2022. He was later overridden by the state legislature.

That same year, a federal judge ordered state legislatures to create a second majority black congressional seat under the new map, but the Supreme Court ultimately allowed the map to be used in the November midterm elections. and suspended the judge's sentence.

After the Supreme Court ruled last year that Alabama's congressional map could violate the Voting Rights Act, the high court lifted the freeze on the case and sent it back to a federal appeals court. The appeals court said new maps must be drawn by mid-January.

“It's a big deal,” said Dave Wasserman, senior editor and election analyst at the nonpartisan election handicapper Cook Political Report. I wrote to XGraves' district, formerly Twitter, is “now almost certainly a Democratic win.”