BATON ROUGE -- Louisiana Democrats rallied on the steps of the Capitol on Monday in favor of the two existing Black-majority congressional districts that are under review by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Several hundred people gathered to hear the two Democratic members of Congress from Louisiana. Members of the Black Caucus in the state Legislature also urged state officials to preserve the “four-two” congressional district map.
The state has a total of six congressional districts, four of which are held by white Republicans, including U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-Bossier City, and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Metairie. Almost a third of the state’s population is Black.
The rally, which lasted about an hour, was organized by citizen advocacy groups including Indivisible Baton Rouge, a left-leaning policy group, and the Power Coalition, a New Orleans voter education coalition.
Both groups oppose doing away with the majority-minority congressional district and delaying the elections next year.
“These are your voters,” Lisa King, member of Indivisible Baton Rouge, told lawmakers, “and we will be at the polls.”
The state Legislature began a special session last Thursday to delay statewide primary elections by a month in 2026 as lawmakers await a decision from the Supreme Court on the legality of the second Black-majority congressional district.
Exactly when the Supreme Court will rule is not certain.
In the state Legislature, where Republicans have super-majorities in both houses, a final vote on pushing back election dates is expected on Wednesday followed by adjournment of the session.
But the process has not come without opposition from Black Democrats who argue the change in the election schedule will be confusing and chaotic to voters.
On Thursday, opposition by Black Democrats got heated during a committee meeting as Republicans argued that legislation is a simple one-month extension on balloting. But Sen. Gary Carter, D-New Orleans, told a state election official, “It sounds like the first step in the process of how we rig an election.”
Sen. Carter later said he apologized to the chair of the committee for any personal criticism, but not for opposing the legislation.
U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge, whose seat is at risk, spoke at the rally Monday.
“What will not change is the hearts and the minds of the people who are here, and when the people here go back to Monroe, go back to Shreveport, go back to Alexandria, go back to Lafayette, Lake Charles, go back to New Orleans, and register those 200,000 people who aren’t registered,” Fields said.
