Louisiana became the first state to postpone its primary elections in the immediate aftermath of a major Supreme Court decision that stripped away a foundational safeguard against racial discrimination in voting maps, setting off a wave of emergency redistricting efforts across the South.
Governor Jeff Landry and Attorney General Liz Murrill announced Thursday that the state could not proceed with its May 16 primary under the current congressional districts. Early voting had been set to begin Saturday. "The State is currently enjoined from carrying out congressional elections under the current map," the two Republicans said in a joint statement, pledging to work with the legislature and secretary of state to chart a new course.
The Supreme Court's Wednesday ruling dismantled a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, opening the door for states to redraw districts without federal oversight. Within hours, Republican-controlled legislatures began mobilizing to seize the opportunity, signaling a coordinated push to reshape electoral maps before November's midterm elections.
Florida moved fastest. Governor Ron DeSantis's legislature, already in special session, passed new congressional maps that would deliver four additional seats to Republicans, giving the party control of 24 of the state's 28 House seats. The maps were redrawn in closed-door sessions, drawing fierce rebuke from Democratic operatives. "DeSantis's extreme new gerrymander was drawn behind closed doors because he knows the voters overwhelmingly oppose this partisan power grab," said John Bisognano, president of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee.
Mississippi's Governor Tate Reeves announced that the state legislature would reconvene in special session 21 days after the ruling to address redistricting that had been frozen pending the court decision. Reeves celebrated on social media with a cryptic reference to two recent Supreme Court rulings: "First Dobbs. Now Callais. Just Mississippi and Louisiana down here saving our country!"
Alabama's attorney general pledged swift action, saying the state "will act as quickly as possible to apply this ruling to Alabama's redistricting efforts." The state currently has two majority-Black districts, including one drawn just two years ago.
In Tennessee, Republican Senator and gubernatorial candidate Marsha Blackburn called for the legislature to reconvene and eliminate the state's single majority-Black district in Memphis. "I urge our state legislature to reconvene to redistrict another Republican seat in Memphis," she wrote, posting an image of Tennessee rendered entirely in red. "It's essential to cement @realDonaldTrump's agenda."
Trump himself weighed in Thursday, posting that he had spoken with Tennessee Governor Bill Lee about correcting what he called "the unconstitutional flaw in the Congressional Maps." Trump predicted the redistricting would yield one additional Republican seat.
Civil rights advocates are already mobilizing in response. Charles Taylor, executive director of Mississippi's NAACP chapter, warned that the push to redraw maps would disproportionately harm Black voters. "Too often in this country, Black voters bear the brunt of the political theater," Taylor said. "Mississippi is the Blackest state in the country and we have a governor and a legislature that is chomping at the bits, not to create equality, but to continue to suppress the Black voices and Black folks in our state."
The speed and coordination of Republican efforts contrast sharply with the complexity facing states trying to redraw maps before November. Filing deadlines have passed in many states, and some primaries are already complete, creating logistical hurdles even as governors signal their determination to push forward.
The current wave of mid-decade redistricting began last year when Trump urged Texas Republicans to redraw districts during the midterm cycle rather than waiting for the next census in 2030. Democrats in California responded in kind, touching off a chain reaction that expanded after the court ruling Wednesday.
Author James Rodriguez: "This is raw political power operating at peak velocity, and the legal machinery to stop it just evaporated."
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