Louisiana advances congressional map with reduced Black representation

Louisiana senators voted early Wednesday to advance a congressional map that eliminates one of the state's majority-Black districts.

Why it matters: The proposed map pits U.S. Rep. Troy Carter against U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields for their seats, which are currently in two different districts, writes Piper Hutchinson of the Louisiana Illuminator.

The latest: Senate committee members stayed up overnight to hear hours of testimony from residents about the proposals.

• The nearly 10-hour meeting ended around 4:30am Wednesday, Hutchinson writes.
• The full Senate is expected to vote Thursday on the bill, before sending it to a House committee next week.

The big picture: Louisiana currently has six U.S. House districts. Four are majority-white and two are majority-Black.

• Gov. Jeff Landry says a new map is needed before U.S. House races can move forward. He suspended those elections April 30 after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in the Callais case.
• Lawmakers are racing to approve the new map before the legislative session ends June 1.

Zoom in: The committee debated two proposals overnight.

• The winning proposal in a 4-3 vote was a map (SB 121) from Sen. Jay Morris, a Republican from West Monroe.
• He says it's based on the state's previous map from 2022 and has a majority-Black district that stretches from New Orleans to Baton Rouge. It redraws the others to be majority-white.

The killed option: The other proposal, which was widely supported by residents at the meeting, was a map (SB 407) from Sen. Ed Price, a Democrat from Gonzales.

• It proposed four majority-white districts and two "opportunity" districts that he says would give Black voters a chance to elect candidates of their choice, Hutchinson says.
• The map did not get enough votes to advance.

Behind the scenes: Sen. Sam Jenkins, a Democrat from Shreveport, said lawmakers agreed not to advance a 6-0 map that would eliminate all majority-Black districts, Hutchinson reported.