Proponents of a second majority-Black congressional district for Louisiana made a new argument Friday as they kept pressing their case in the face of powerful opposition, saying a U.S. House delegation thoroughly dominated by one party puts the state at a disadvantage when the opposite party holds power.
Lawmakers are meeting in special session in Baton Rouge to redraw political district lines to account for population shifts reflected in the 2020 census. So far the House and Senate, both dominated by Republicans, have approved similar congressional maps that largely stick to the status quo, keeping intact five districts now represented by white Republicans, and one encompassing a majority Black population represented by a Black Democrat.
In committee meetings and on the floor, proposed maps creating a second majority-minority district have been defeated along largely party line votes. Such a district would also likely be a Democrat-dominated one, given state voting patterns.
Proponents of the status quo have brought up numerous points against the proposals — among them that they would split some parishes or precincts, and that they would actually diminish Black voting strength with smaller percentages of Black voters in both the proposed new district and the altered existing district.
Rep. Marcus Bryant, a Black Democrat from New Iberia said Friday he will try to answer some of the concerns with a map he plans to unveil Monday during the House and Governmental Affairs Committee.
And he added a new political wrinkle to the argument that, to be fair and to comply with the federal Voting Rights Act, two of the six congressional districts should have majority Black populations to represent a state that is one-third Black.
“My whole idea is that two is better than one when you're dealing with a Democrat president in a state that always needs emergency response for all these hurricanes, a hurricane-sensitive deal, roads and bridges,” Bryant said.
“We have never had a Republican president for a long time and we've never had a Democratic president for a long time,” he added.
Rep. Jeremy LaCombe, a white Democrat from Livonia, agreed.
“It makes common sense to not have an entire delegation made up of one party,” LaCombe said. He argued that partisan divisions in the congressional delegation have contributed to a slow recovery from two hurricanes in 2020 in the Lake Charles area.
Also on Monday, the full House is set to take up a bill redrawing maps for itself, accounting for a loss of population in north Louisiana. The New Orleans area is expected to pick up a seat, at the expense of the Caddo Parish area, when that map is finished. Meanwhile, the full Senate is scheduled Monday to debate remap plans for itself and for the state Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court plan up before the Senate would maintain a single majority-Black election district among the court's seven districts. The Advocate reports that Rep. Barry Ivey, a Republican from Central is sponsoring a House bill that would create a second majority-Black district for the high court.
Voting rights advocates are likely to file court challenges to any congressional map that doesn't give Louisiana a second majority-Black district. But the fate of such challenges is uncertain, given a recent U.S. Supreme Court order reversing three lower court judges and effectively stopping efforts to create a second mostly Black congressional district in Alabama in time for this year’s election.
Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards supports a second Black district. While he has said he would consider vetoing a bill without one, he has not yet made a final decision. The bills have passed by wide enough margins to override an Edwards veto if the numbers hold.
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