This past week has been a rough one for “Louisiana First” patriots. As has been noted here on The Hayride previously, the US Supreme Court granted an emergency stay filed by Louisiana AG Liz Murrill concerning Louisiana’s congressional map. This ruling will force Louisiana to use the controversial, racially-gerrymandered Congressional map passed by the Louisiana Legislature back in January. As a result, Louisiana will have two minority-majority, Democrat-leaning congressional districts in the upcoming November elections.
This latest ruling comes after three years of seemingly unending litigation regarding Louisiana’s Congressional map following the 2020 census. Back in 2022, far-left US District Judge Shelly Dick ruled that the state Legislature had to revise its previously approved Congressional map to add a second minority-majority Congressional district. However, the US Supreme Court’s decision to stay the litigation on this case in June 2022 prevented Judge Dick and then-Governor John Bel Edwards from creating a rushed district map in time for the 2022 mid-term election cycle.
By the beginning of 2023, most people assumed that the headaches around Louisiana’s redistricting were soon over. Unfortunately, the redistricting nightmare came back to Louisiana in June 2023 after US Supreme Court’s decision related to congressional redistricting in Alabama (Allen vs Milligan). In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court forced Alabama to add a second minority-majority congressional district. Consequently, the USSC lifted its stay on Louisiana’s redistricting case that same month and reopened our redistricting can of worms.
We can all thank Justice Brett Kavanaugh for being the deciding vote in the Alabama redistricting decision. His single vote opened the door for the mess we are in now for Louisiana. Talk about an utterly disappointing judicial appointment.
After more legal hoopla in 2023, Judge Dick gave the Louisiana Legislature a deadline of January 30th, 2024 to pass a new congressional map with two minority-majority districts. Immediately after his inauguration, Governor Landry called the Legislature for a special session in January 2024 to handle redistricting. Then, the Legislature passed state Senator Glen Womack’s atrociously gerrymandered congressional map as shown below:
For the 2024 election cycle, voters in Caddo and DeSoto parishes will have the same Congressional representative as people in East Baton Rouge Parish–over 200 miles away!
Governor Landry and the state Legislature favored this map because it protected incumbent Republican Congressmen Scalise, Johnson, and Letlow– at the expense of Garret Graves. Graves didn’t do his political future any favors back in 2023 by backing former Congressman Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker and supporting failed gubernatorial candidate Steven Waguespack over Jeff Landry.
So here we are in May 2024, and it looks like we’re staring down a 4-2 Congressional map in Louisiana. Three years of litigation, a disappointing Supreme Court decision, and squeamishness from Louisiana Republicans all compounded into the situation we’re currently in.
Despite getting trounced in Louisiana’s last election cycle, Louisiana Democrats achieved a major victory for the 2024 elections via this redistricting decision. This situation should remind Louisiana that the Far-Left is persistent and plays to win. Louisiana’s “conservative” politicians do not have the political will to dominate Louisiana’s dwindling political Left as they need to, and because of that they gave up on the redistricting issue even when they held the high ground.
The whole redistricting saga shows us that Congressional redistricting is all about political will, not principles. The supposed redistricting principles of “compactness” and “communities of interest” didn’t matter when the Legislature approved Senator Womack’s gerrymandered map.
The Louisiana Left plays to win, the Right plays not to lose. Now, it’s time to reassess and start playing to win.
Nathan Koenig is a frequent contributor to RVIVR.com, a national conservative political site affiliated with The Hayride. Follow his writing on the Louisiana First Standard Substack, on Twitter (X) @LAfirststandard, and on Instagram @tincanconservative. Email him here: louisianafirststandard@proton.me
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