Louisiana lawmakers pass congressional map designed to pick up GOP seat

Louisiana lawmakers passed a new congressional map Friday designed to pick up a Republican seat while leaving the state with just one of its two majority-Black House districts represented by Democrats. Republican Gov. Jeff Landry is expected to sign the new map into law. Approval of the new House map came a month after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the state's current map as an illegal racial gerrymander, weakening the landmark 1965 federal Voting Rights Act. That decision intensified a national redistricting battle fueled by President Trump's efforts to protect the Republicans' slim House majority in the midterm elections. Louisiana Republicans had considered drawing a map giving the party a shot at winning all six of the state's U.S. House seats. But that would have required adding more Black voters to Republican-held districts, potentially backfiring with losses. Some Republicans said a 5-1 map better protects U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson from facing a difficult reelection. In the weeks following the Supreme Court's decision, several other Republican-controlled Southern states have seized upon a weakened federal Voting Rights Act to try to redraw their own congressional districts. It's the latest flare-up in a heated national redistricting battle heading into the November elections, spurred along by the president. So far, Republicans are winning the redistricting contest. But that doesn't necessarily mean they will win a narrowly divided U.S. House in November. …