BATON ROUGE — The only Republican bill that would have increased minority representation through redistricting reached its death on the House floor Wednesday, prompting its author to give his fellow lawmakers a tongue-lashing. Rep. Barry Ivey, R-Central, authored HB22, a Supreme Court map that would have created a second majority black district on the state’s seven-member court. The bill made it out of committee on a bipartisan vote but was involuntarily tabled on the House f

BATON ROUGE — Both chambers of the state Legislature voted overwhelmingly to keep the same number of minority districts in the Louisiana Senate and Supreme Court district maps. State representatives then voted 82-21 Monday evening to leave the state House with the same number of minority-majority districts, 29 of 105, that it has now. All of the vote margins in both chambers were large enough to override gubernatorial vetoes if they hold going forward. “It took a while to get

BATON ROUGE — Sparks flew between lawmakers and high school students at a House redistricting committee hearing Wednesday. A group of teenagers trekked from Shreveport, missing a day of class, to testify in front of the House and Governmental Affairs Committee against a Republican redistricting bill that would not increase black representation in the state House of Representatives. Kingson Wills, Sabrina Huynh and Ryan Wilkinson took the stand contested what they called racia

BATON ROUGE — The state Senate on Tuesday advanced a Republican plan to keep only one of the state’s six congressional districts with a majority of black voters despite complaints from Democrats there should be two. Tensions were high on the floor as lawmakers debated how to redraw the maps for congressional and state Senate districts to reflect population changes in the 2020 Census. The GOP bill, sponsored by Sen. Sharon Hewitt, R-Slidell, passed 27-12, with all Republican s

BATON ROUGE — A majority black district in northwest Louisiana looks like the first major casualty of war in the redistricting special session. Under a plan by Republican leaders, House District 23, represented by Rep. Kenny Cox, D-Natchitoches, would be fragmented and absorbed by neighboring districts to accommodate a new seat in New Orleans. Cox, an Army veteran who formed a human net to catch people jumping from a burning Pentagon on 9/11, made an emotional plea Monday to

BATON ROUGE — Republicans on Senate and House committees voted along party lines Friday to maintain a single minority-majority congressional district in Louisiana, turning back efforts to make it easier for minority residents to elect a second black member of Congress. The Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee also voted along party lines to redraw state Senate districts keeping 11 minority-majority districts rather than increasing the number to 13 supported by the Black