Louisiana suspended its congressional primaries Thursday, just two days before early voting was set to begin, after Republican Gov. Jeff Landry issued an executive order responding to a Supreme Court ruling that invalidated the state's majority-Black congressional district as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.
The move freezes only U.S. House races. All other contests on the May 16 ballot, including Senate and state Supreme Court elections, will proceed on schedule. Landry's order pushes the House primary to July 15, or to a date the Legislature selects before then.
The sequence was swift. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court struck down Louisiana's race-based congressional map in a landmark 6-3 ruling, finding that state officials relied too heavily on race when they drew a second Black-majority district in 2024. By Wednesday evening, Landry was already on the phone with House candidates, telling them the primaries would most likely be stalled. By Thursday, the executive order was signed. By Thursday night, a three-judge federal appeals court panel issued its own brief order suspending Louisiana's House election until new maps are drawn.
Landry framed the suspension as a constitutional obligation, not a political maneuver. The Associated Press reported his statement in full:
"Allowing elections to proceed under an unconstitutional map would undermine the integrity of our system and violate the rights of our voters. This executive order ensures we uphold the rule of law while giving the Legislature the time it needs to pass a fair and lawful congressional map."
The Republican-controlled secretary of state's office backed the move, declaring an electoral emergency that provided the legal mechanism for the postponement. Officials said notices would be posted at early voting sites to alert the public.
The Washington Examiner reported that Landry and Attorney General Liz Murrill issued a joint statement noting that "the State is currently enjoined from carrying out congressional elections under the current map" and that they were working with the Legislature and secretary of state to find a path forward.
Louisiana's Republican House and Senate leaders said they are prepared to pass new congressional voting districts and set a new election date before their regular session ends in a month. That tight timeline will test the Legislature's ability to redraw lines without triggering another legal challenge.
The redistricting saga stretches back to the 2020 census. Louisiana officials originally drew House boundaries that maintained one Black-majority district and five mostly white districts, in a state whose population is roughly one-third Black. The following year, the Supreme Court found that Alabama had to create a second congressional district favorable to Black voters, a precedent that rippled through Southern states.
In 2024, Louisiana's legislature and governor adopted a new House map that created a second Black-majority district. That map is the one the Court struck down Wednesday, with Justice Alito writing that the race-based congressional district amounted to an "unconstitutional gerrymander."
The 6-3 ruling, as Breitbart reported, significantly narrowed the use of the Voting Rights Act to justify race-based districting, a shift that could prompt Republican-led states well beyond Louisiana to revisit their own maps.
Louisiana currently sends four Republicans and two Democrats to the U.S. House. A revised map could give Republicans a chance to pick up at least one more seat in the November midterms. The district at the center of the dispute is represented by Democrat Cleo Fields.
The reaction from the left was immediate. Democratic state Sen. Royce Duplessis, who represents the New Orleans area, accused the governor of upending the process mid-stream:
"This is going to cause mass confusion among voters, Democrats, Republicans, white, Black, everybody. What they're effectively doing is changing the rules of the game in the middle of the game. It's rigging the system."
Marc Elias, the prominent Democratic election attorney, announced the filing of a lawsuit challenging Landry's executive order. The terms of that suit have not been detailed publicly.
Duplessis's framing, that this amounts to "rigging", is a stretch. The governor acted after the nation's highest court declared the existing map unconstitutional. Proceeding with elections under a map the Supreme Court itself struck down would have been the truly reckless course. Louisiana has precedent for election delays: in 2020, Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards postponed the state's April 4 presidential primary three weeks before it was supposed to occur, then delayed it again until July 11, citing COVID-19 concerns. Nobody called that "rigging."
The ruling's reach extends far past Baton Rouge. House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters in Washington that every state with a constitutionally suspect map should take notice:
"I think all states who have unconstitutional maps should look at that very carefully, and I think they should do it before the midterm."
Florida lawmakers moved fast. On Wednesday, the same day as the Supreme Court ruling, they adopted a new U.S. House map backed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. That new map could give the GOP a chance at winning several additional seats. The Supreme Court's recent intervention to let Texas keep its GOP-friendly congressional map shows the broader trend of the Court shaping the electoral landscape heading into the midterms.
President Trump used his social media platform to praise Landry and urged Republicans in Tennessee to redraw their maps as well. Trump posted that he had spoken with Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, who he said would work hard for a new map. Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton, a Republican, said he is in conversations with the White House and others while reviewing the Court's decision.
Tennessee currently sends just one Democrat to the U.S. House out of nine seats. That sole Democratic district, centered on Memphis, is majority Black. A redraw there could further tighten the GOP's grip.
Alabama, meanwhile, filed an emergency motion with the Supreme Court on Thursday seeking expedited review of its own appeal. Federal judges had previously ordered Alabama to use a plan that added a second district with a substantial number of Black voters. The Court's internal dynamics will be closely watched as these cases pile up.
Last year, Trump urged Texas Republicans to redraw House districts to give the GOP an edge. Democrats reciprocated with redistricting efforts in California. The partisan redistricting arms race is not new, but the Supreme Court's Wednesday decision may have given Republican legislatures the clearest constitutional green light they have had in years.
For the men and women already running, the delay is a real disruption. Misti Cordell, a Republican running in a crowded race to fill the seat vacated by U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow, said Landry told candidates Wednesday that the primaries would most likely be stalled. Just The News reported that only House races and related runoff elections are affected.
Cordell acknowledged the inconvenience but accepted the rationale:
"It's an inconvenience for a candidate for sure, but you know they want to do it right versus having to go through all this again."
She also noted that candidates who had been "spending their war chest" in advance of the May 16 primary now face an extended campaign with uncertain timelines. That is a real cost, especially for challengers without deep pockets.
The Louisiana Legislature now has roughly a month to draw a new congressional map and set a new election date before its regular session ends. The open questions are significant. Will the new map survive legal challenge? Will Elias's lawsuit against the governor's executive order gain traction in court? And will the Legislature choose July 15, or push the date further?
The broader question is whether a Supreme Court increasingly willing to act decisively on politically charged questions will continue to reshape the electoral map in ways that favor constitutional fidelity over racial set-asides.
For years, the Voting Rights Act was treated as a one-way ratchet, always expanding racial considerations in redistricting, never contracting them. Wednesday's ruling broke that pattern. Louisiana's response was not confusion or defiance. It was compliance. The governor followed the Court's ruling, paused the election, and handed the map back to the Legislature where it belongs.
When a court says the map is unconstitutional, you don't hold the election anyway and hope nobody notices. You fix the map. That used to be common sense. Apparently it still is, in Louisiana, at least.