Louisiana is delaying its House primaries that were scheduled for May 16 to give state lawmakers time to redraw congressional maps there, after the Supreme Court struck down the current district lines in a decision with far-reaching consequences for control of Congress in 2026 and beyond.
Louisiana Secretary of State Nancy Landry announced Thursday that while the U.S. House primaries would be “suspended,” all other races, including the state’s hotly contested Senate primary, “will continue as scheduled.”
NBC News had reported earlier Thursday that Gov. Jeff Landry had planned to delay the House races in light of Wednesday’s Supreme Court ruling.
Absentee voting for the May 16 primary is already underway in Louisiana, and early voting had been set to start for all races this weekend. The last-minute move means that the House races will still be on voters’ ballots, but any votes in those elections won’t count.
The move to halt voting for the House primaries could face legal scrutiny. But Republicans are confident they’ll be able to press pause on the process because the Supreme Court’s ruling directly labeled Louisiana’s congressional lines an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters Thursday that “the governor has no choice but to suspend” the May 16 primary “because the courts just ruled our map unconstitutional.”
In response, Republican lawmakers are set to draw lines eliminating at least one of the state’s two Democratic-held districts, starting with the one currently held by Rep. Cleo Fields, whose district is at the center of the court challenge. The only other Democrat in the delegation is Rep. Troy Carter, who represents much of New Orleans and communities to its west.
Louisiana’s move is just the beginning of the fallout from the Supreme Court’s ruling, which severely limited provisions of the Voting Rights Act which had been used to guarantee the creation of majority-minority districts in states with significant populations of voters of color, allowing those voters to elect candidates of their choice.
While the law had been construed to allow consideration of voters’ races in drawing districts, Justice Samuel Alito wrote in his majority opinion that “allowing race to play any part in government decision-making represents a departure from the constitutional rule that applies in almost any other context.”
In the short term, that ruling could allow a handful of Republican-controlled states to redraw lines to give their party a boost in the battle for control of Congress. But the full political impact of the decision likely won’t be felt until 2028, when states have a full election cycle to take action. Democrats warn that could dramatically reduce, or possibly eliminate, seats currently held by Black Democrats in the South.
On Thursday, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social thanking Landry “for moving so quickly” on Louisiana’s maps. The new Supreme Court decision has collided with Trump-backed efforts to redraw maps in numerous states ahead of the 2026 election, as his party seeks an advantage in the midterms.
Trump also posted that Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee told him “he would work hard” to put a new congressional map in place in his state, which has one Democratic district based in Memphis.
In Louisiana’s Senate primary, Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy is fighting for his political career against a crowded field that includes Rep. Julia Letlow, who has Trump’s endorsement. The top two Republicans would move on to a runoff if no one wins a majority.
