Louisiana Suspends Election as Redistricting Crisis Enters Dangerous New Phase

Defending Democracy with Marc Elias

Democracy Docket

News, Politics

4.9 • 702 Ratings

🗓️ 2 May 2026

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the fallout of the Supreme Court decision gutting the Voting Rights Act, Republican states across the country are rushing to redraw their congressional maps. Governor Jeff Landry has even called a state of emergency to suspend Louisiana's ongoing primary elections. Marc Elias breaks down what this means for voters, what Republicans will try next, and why we need to stay hopeful in the face of this existential threat.

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Louisiana governor suspends active election to allow for gerrymander

https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/louisiana-governor-suspends-active-election-to-allow-for-gerrymander/

0:00 The Supreme Court Guts the Voting Rights Act

3:01 History of Attacks on the Voting Rights Act

7:04 Louisiana Governor Suspends Elections

11:44 Republicans Dismiss the Crisis

18:36 What You Can Do to Fight Back

22:43 Why 2027 and 2028 Redistricting Battles Matter

25:36 Democracy Has Always Been Under Attack

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Transcript

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0:00.0	We all knew that the Supreme Court was going to take a hatchet to the Voting Rights Act.
0:04.8	I mean, we didn't know exactly what it would do, but we knew that it was going to be bad.
0:09.0	A six three opinion authored by one of the most conservative justices on the court, Justice Alito,
0:15.3	it gutted the Voting Rights Act.
0:16.9	In a cynical decision that didn't even have the honesty to just say the voting ICE
0:23.8	was struck down.
0:24.9	The court said that minority voters can have their opportunity districts, but only if they
0:30.6	support the candidates that the legislature wants them to.
0:35.4	So in other words, if the state of Alabama says that there should be
0:38.6	all Republican seats, sure, you can sue to bring a voting rights act claim, but only if you can show
0:46.1	that the black voters would support a Republican candidate. This is beyond a farce. This is
0:52.3	beyond insulting. This is beyond just striking down the voting rights act. This is beyond a force. This is beyond insulting. This is beyond just striking down the
0:56.2	voting rights act. This is the kind of gaslighting and misdirection that, frankly, is beneath
1:02.0	what we should expect from the highest court in our country. But the challenges that are in its wake,
1:08.6	the follow-on effects from this decision are going to be even worse.
1:14.0	We're just seeing them in the days that have followed.
1:18.2	Already, Florida, the day of the decision, passed a new map that trampled not only over the
1:24.8	federal rights and the constitutional rights of black and brown voters
1:29.1	in that state, but also over the rights of all Floridians to not have their maps drawn on the
1:36.3	basis of partisanship. That's in the Florida Constitution. It was put in the Florida Constitution
1:42.6	by the voters of Florida in a series of referendum
1:47.5	and ballot initiatives before the 2010 census.
	...

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