Graves to lose U.S. House seat under Louisiana redistricting plan that adds minority seat

Louisiana lawmakers gave final approval Friday to a congressional redistricting plan that adds a second majority-Black district to the state’s U.S. House lineup, likely at the expense of U.S. Rep. Garret Graves, a Republican from Baton Rouge. 

State lawmakers passed a plan that creates a second majority Black congressional district that stretches from Caddo Parish in northwest Louisiana to East Baton Rouge Parish, slashing across the center of the state. It now goes to Gov. Jeff Landry’s desk, where he is expected to sign the bill into law. 

“The outcome of this special session is a win for the people of Louisiana… we took the pen out of the hand of a non-elected judge and placed it in the hands of the people,” Landry said in a press release.

The plan is in response to a court order in the case Robinson v. Landry, in which Black voters sued to block the implementation of a congressional district map the legislature approved in 2022 that has only one majority-Black district. U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick, an appointee of former President Barack Obama who is presiding over the case, gave lawmakers until Jan. 31 to redraw the lines to comply with the Voting Rights Act.

In December, judges with the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request from Republican state officials, the defendants in the lawsuit before Dick, to end the case. The U.S. Supreme Court had previously declined to intervene in the matter. 

Jared Evans, an attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund who represents plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said data indicates the two districts lawmakers approved Friday would likely result in the election of candidates Black voters prefer, the redistricting objective of a majority-Black seat. Evans said the plaintiffs will most likely accept the new map. 

“We are so excited, as a plaintiff in this case, to stand here today and have the people’s voice prevail and realize the second minority district,” said plaintiff Ashley Shelton, executive director of the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice. 

“We prevailed!” House Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. Matthew Willard, D-New Orleans, said after Friday’s vote. 

While no Republican has outwardly said so, Graves was clearly chosen as the Republican sacrifice. Giving up a safe Republican seat was necessary to draw a second majority Black district, and legislators were explicit about who they wanted to protect: U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton; House Majority Leader Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson; and U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow, R-Monroe. 

The fifth member of Louisiana’s Republican delegation, U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins, R-Port Barre, is protected by geography because his district could not be significantly altered in the new map.

Graves has ruffled some feathers with Republicans nationally and at home. He was widely viewed as insufficiently supportive of Scalise’s failed bid for House speaker. Graves also endorsed Stephen Waguespack, one of Landry’s opponents in the 2023 gubernatorial election, potentially putting him crosswise with a powerful governor whose interests are driving the special session. 

A spokesperson for Graves did not respond immediately to a request for comment. 

With the plaintiffs approval, Dick is expected to let the bill become law. 

Senate Bill 8, sponsored by Sen. Glen Womack, R-Harrisonburg, cleared the Louisiana House on an 86-17 vote Friday morning. Those opposed were all Republicans. Representatives voted to strip amendments to the map made Thursday in the House and Governmental Affairs Committee that made the map less compact, split East Baton Rouge Parish into three congressional districts, and added a small number of Black voters into both of the majority-Black districts. 

The changes were controversial and led to discord within the Democratic Party. The motion to remove the amendments was opposed by several conservative Republicans as well as some Democrats in the New Orleans delegation. 

The new congressional map mustered such substantial Republican support in part because Republican Gov. Jeff Landry, who took office two weeks ago, is behind the plan. Some GOP state lawmakers expressed reluctance with making changes to the congressional boundaries, largely because it results in the loss of a safe Republican seat. But they said they would rather approve a map drawn with their political interests in mind rather than allow a judge to do so. 

Because the map was amended in the House, it had to be returned to the Senate for concurrence on the changes. The Senate agreed to the amendments in a 27-11 vote, with several north Louisiana Republicans voting against the bill because it sliced up several parishes between the districts Johnson and Letlow represent. 

The proposed 6th District, the new majority-Black seat, stretches deep into the existing 4th District, which Johnson holds. It removes many of its Black voters and replaces them with a portion of the 5th District, which Letlow holds. In Womack’s plan, the 4th and 5th districts remain safe Republican districts.

Womack said he tried to protect both north Louisiana members of Congress and Scalise, who represents the 1st District. He represents most of the Northshore of Lake Pontchartrain and Republican-heavy portions of Orleans and Jefferson parishes.