Louisiana's Republican-controlled Legislature passed two bills Wednesday to delay the state's spring elections, a move designed to give them time for a possible redraw of the congressional map if the U.S. Supreme Court weakens a key provision in federal voting law.
The measures move the 2026 spring elections to May 16 and June 27, back from April 18 and May 30. The legislation passed in a special legislative session that was called the day after Louisiana argued a case before the Supreme Court over its current map, in which Republicans control four of the six districts.
"We pray that the Supreme Court brings us clarity and does so in an expedient manner. The situation we find ourselves is not typical, so it’s not unreasonable to think the Supreme Court might issue an opinion before the typical June," state Rep. Gerald "Beau" Beaullieu, a Republican, said.
"We do not know when they will respond, nor the decision they will render, but we do know we have a little bit more time left on the calendar," he continued.
The case concerns Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, a critical component of the landmark voting rights law. The provision bars the government from denying or limiting voting rights based on race, color or language minority. It’s been used to force Louisiana lawmakers to draw two majority-Black districts in a state where Black Americans make up about one-third of the population.
A ruling that guts that provision — which is where the court's conservative majority appeared to be leaning — would open the door for Louisiana and potentially more than a dozen other states to draw new maps, a dramatic escalation to the already unusual mid-decade redistricting season.
“It could have damaging impacts throughout the state of Louisiana for a generation,” state Rep. Matthew Willard, chair of the Democratic caucus in Louisiana’s House, said of redistricting without protections for minority voting rights. “This isn’t just about Louisiana. This has the potential to impact the entire United States.”
Nearly 70 districts are protected by Section 2 across the country, according to Nicholas Stephanopoulos, an election law expert and professor at Harvard Law School.
Stephanopoulos said he expected that Southern states with Republican trifecta control would try to eliminate those protected districts, which tend to elect Democrats.
"This would sort of introduce a structural, pro-Republican bias into the House that hasn't been there for at least the last few years," he said. "It would decimate minority representation in the House."
Stephanopoulos added that it could lead to the first substantial drop in minority representation in Congress since the 1880s.
Advocacy groups Fair Fight Action and Black Voters Matter have estimated that Republicans could draw 19 new seats to elect members of their party in the midterms if Section 2 is eliminated.
Even if the Supreme Court does rule to weaken the provision, a major factor would be how quickly it rules. The longer the justices take, the less time lawmakers would have to put new maps in place for next year's midterm elections.
President Donald Trump urged Republican-led states to redraw their congressional maps earlier this year. So far, Texas, Missouri and North Carolina have answered his call, drawing seven new GOP-leaning districts.
Democrats responded with a new map in California that could lead to five additional seats for their party that requires voter approval in a special election next week. Virginia Democrats are attempting a complicated legislative maneuver that would allow them to bypass their redistricting commission in an effort to enact new maps before the 2026 elections.
