Jeff Landry Plans To Suspend Louisiana House Primaries After Supreme Court Voting Rights Ruling

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry (R) told Republican House candidates that he planned to suspend next month’s primary elections so state lawmakers could pass a new congressional map first, according to two people with knowledge of the calls cited by The Washington Post.

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Louisiana Illuminator

The move followed a U.S. Supreme Court decision earlier in the day that found Louisiana had unlawfully discriminated by race when it created a second majority Black congressional district under legal pressure.

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The Washington Post said the 6-3 decision limited a key provision of the Voting Rights Act and could lead to other Black Democrats across the South losing their House seats.

Reuters reported that Landry planned to suspend next month’s primary elections to allow state lawmakers to pass a new congressional map, and said the announcement to suspend the May 16 primary could come as early as Friday, a day before early voting is set to start.

The Washington Post said the announcement could come as early as Friday, one day before early voting is to begin, and that election officials had sent ballots to overseas voters weeks ago.

The Washington Post reported that it was unclear whether the suspension would apply only to primaries for the six House seats or include other elections, including a Senate primary that pits incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy (R) against Rep. Julia Letlow (R).

A spokesperson for Landry declined to comment on his plans for the primary, while Landry earlier said the Supreme Court “affirmed what we have said for years: drawing districts for political reasons is the States’ prerogative, not a federal civil rights violation.”

The Supreme Court decision that triggered Landry’s plan centered on Louisiana’s congressional map and a second majority Black district created in 2024, with Reuters saying the ruling blocked an electoral map that had given Louisiana a second Black-majority U.S. congressional district.

Reuters said Black people make up roughly a third of the population of Louisiana, which has six U.S. House districts, and that the Supreme Court ruling gutted a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, making it harder for minorities to challenge electoral maps as racially discriminatory under the landmark civil rights law.

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The Washington Post described the timing as extremely unusual, saying states normally draw new lines once every 10 years at the beginning of the decade when they receive census data showing how populations have shifted.

The Washington Post also said the Supreme Court decision comes amid a broader fight over redrawing congressional lines for partisan gain that has been raging since last summer, with President Donald Trump urging Republican-led states to carve up their states to capture more districts.

Reuters said the Supreme Court issued its ruling as Republican-governed and Democratic-led states around the country battle over redrawing electoral maps to change the composition of U.S. House districts for partisan advantage ahead of the November elections.

The Washington Post said the ruling positions Republicans to gain one or two seats in the midterms as they fight to hold their narrow majority in the House.

The Louisiana Illuminator added that the case in question was Callais v. Louisiana, which challenged the legality of the second majority-Black congressional district the Louisiana Legislature drew in 2024.

After the Supreme Court ruling, Louisiana’s elected Republican leaders debated whether to postpone the May 16 primary elections for the state’s six seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, even though absentee ballots had been mailed out and early voting was scheduled to start Saturday, according to the Louisiana Illuminator.

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The Louisiana Illuminator said the GOP leaders had indicated the Supreme Court’s ruling would not alter their plans for the 2026 midterm elections, but after the decision they looked at contingency plans to cancel or delay the party primary election until a new map could be drawn and used this year.

It said the Callais plaintiffs rushed the release of a certified judgment, citing the need to redraw the map for the 2026 election cycle, and that Louisiana Secretary of State Nancy Landry does not oppose their request.

In a news conference, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill seemed optimistic state lawmakers could adopt new congressional maps in time to be used this year, while the secretary of state declined to comment on the Supreme Court decision because the litigation was still in progress.

The Louisiana Illuminator reported that Sen. Caleb Kleinpeter, R-Port Allen, who chairs the Louisiana Senate committee that oversees redistricting, said he was working with legislative leadership and statewide elected officials to come up with a plan for the congressional races, but did not provide specifics.

It said one possibility being discussed among lawmakers was canceling the party primaries for the U.S. House races, and Kleinpeter said this would require legislative action and that there were bills in play that could be amended to postpone the primaries.

The article also quoted Sen. Royce Duplessis, a Black Democrat from New Orleans, questioning whether postponing the House primaries already underway would break the law, saying, “Legally, I don’t believe they can do that,” and adding, “But in terms of fairness, I believe that it is absolutely wrong for them to even be thinking about undoing the election that has already been done.”

The Louisiana Illuminator said canceling party primaries after votes had been cast could also be met with court challenges under federal law, citing Michael Li, senior counsel for the Brennan Center for Justice, an organization that advocates for voting rights.

It also described how the timing constrained lawmakers, noting that any action along these lines wouldn’t take place until after early voting starts Saturday because lawmakers were not scheduled to meet Thursday, Friday and the House was out until Tuesday.

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The article said Sen. Alan Seabaugh, R-Shreveport, called off a vote Wednesday on one of his proposals in case lawmakers wanted to use it as a vehicle to cancel or postpone the U.S. House primaries.

It said Seabaugh’s original bill would remove Board of Elementary and Secondary Education elections from the state’s semi-closed party primary system next year, and that it could be amended to scrap or postpone semi-closed primaries for this year’s U.S. House races to make it easier to hold those contests later in the year.

The Washington Post, meanwhile, reported that Richard Hasen, a law professor at UCLA and director of the school’s Safeguarding Democracy Project, said Landry’s unusual plan did not appear to conflict with federal voting laws, while calling it “It’s naked partisanship, but under the Supreme Court’s approach to voting now, naked partisanship is more of a defense than an indictment,” in Hasen’s words.

The Washington Post also said critics of the plan may seek to challenge it under state laws.

Reuters reported that Landry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment, and that Reuters could not immediately verify the Washington Post report about the suspension plan.

The stakes described across the accounts revolve around how Louisiana’s congressional primaries and maps will line up with the 2026 election cycle and the November congressional elections that Reuters said were looming.

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Louisiana Illuminator

The Washington Post said the Supreme Court decision could lead to other Black Democrats across the South losing their House seats, and it framed the redistricting fight as one that could help Republicans gain one or two seats in the midterms while they fight to hold their narrow majority in the House.

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Reuters said the decision could encourage Republican-led states to seek to redraw electoral maps in an effort that could put at risk U.S. House of Representatives seats considered safely Democratic, and it tied that risk to the fact that Black voters tend to support Democratic candidates.

The Louisiana Illuminator said the Callais plaintiffs sought a certified judgment because they needed to redraw the map for the 2026 election cycle, and it described how absentee voting had already begun and early voting was scheduled to start Saturday.

It also said party-only elections on May 16 would include single seats on the state school board and Louisiana Supreme Court and two positions on the Public Service Commission, along with five constitutional amendments, and that none of those elections were expected to be moved even if the U.S. House primaries were delayed.

The Washington Post reported that if Landry suspends the House primaries but not other contests, primary voters would have to go to the polls twice, just weeks or months apart from each other.

It also said it was unclear whether the suspension would apply only to primaries for the six House seats or include other elections, including the Senate primary between Bill Cassidy and Julia Letlow.