Louisiana adds second minority-majority district

ALEXANDRIA, La. (KALB) – It took only four days but the special session on redistricting is over, and the bill authored by Central Louisiana Senator Glen Womack, has been passed by both sides of the legislature.

The bill officially makes District 6, held by Republican congressman Garret Graves the new Black-majority district. District 6 will now run diagonally across the state, starting in Caddo Parish, and ending in the middle of East Baton Rouge. Ashley Shelton is the executive director of the Louisiana Power Coalition and was also a plaintiff in the case.

“This opportunity comes from the reality that after census, a third of the state is African American,” said Shelton. “That growth in population certainly affords us two minority seats versus the one that we currently held.”

It would effectively split Rapides Parish into two districts, removing not just Rapides, but Avoyelles, Natchitoches and Grant Parishes all from District 5.

Shelton adds that despite the imperfections; make no mistake, this is a win.

“And so even though we do have several parts of Rapides that are split, at least we were able to work them down to the version of the map that only split it two ways, versus having a three way split.”

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