Republicans who have strong control over the Louisiana Legislature  have succeeded in two of their redistricting goals. Their leadership appears to have high enough numbers in the House to override gubernatorial vetoes and it has strengthened GOP numbers in the Senate.

The other major goal was to avoid creating any additional majority-minority (Black) districts and they did it, actually eliminating one of those districts in the Senate.

The House, with an 82-21 vote, has approved its new election district lines, and that bill moves to the Senate. Meanwhile, the Senate, with a 27-12 vote, sent its bill to the House. No major changes are expected in either chamber.

The current 105-member House has 68 Republicans, 33 Democrats, 3 independents and 1 vacancy. There are 27 Black members. The 39-member Senate has 27 Republicans and 12 Democrats. There are 11 Blacks in the Senate.

A new Legislature takes office on Jan. 8, 2024, and those numbers won’t be a lot different.

Black spokespersons have made it clear that they make up one-third of the state population and deserve one-third representation on the state’s public bodies. That would be 35 Blacks in the state House and 13 in the Senate.

So why didn’t they get it? Democrat Dustin Granger of Lake Charles, an unsuccessful candidate for the state Senate in a local special election, explained how in a Feb. 6 letter in the American Press. Granger said the main strategies are “cracking” and “packing.”

Cracking is diluting the voting power of opposing party members by spreading them across many districts. Whites and Blacks are packed into districts rather than being spread out more equally in more districts. The districts just created give Whites big advantages in the House and Senate.

District 5 in the Ouachita Parish area, for example, has an 85.5 percent white population. It’s 84.7 percent in District 89 (St. Tammany Parish), 84.5 percent in District 64 (East Baton Rouge), 82.8 percent in District 74 (St. Tammany area), and 80.4 percent in District 77 (St. Tammany area).

District 100 in New Orleans has an 81.6 percent Black population. It’s 81.6 percent in District 100 (New Orleans), 80.0 percent in District 34 (Lake Charles), 77.9 percent in District 61 (Baton Rouge) and 76.8 in District 3 (Shreveport).

The packing of Blacks into fewer districts reduces their influence because they have the smaller population. Granger said that leaves many people feeling disenfranchised, a common theme of many Black residents, and also leads to voter apathy.

Those who put the Legislature’s election maps together had no hesitation in saying they met with current Republicans and Democrats and tried to draw new boundaries with them in mind. It’s a nice way of saying “in order to help you get re-elected.”

Rep. John Stefanski, R-Crowley, said as much when he told the House Monday, “I have to rely on you to tell me what’s best for your district.”

Protecting those incumbent legislators helped the House give overwhelming passage of redistricting House Bill 14 by Speaker of the House Clay Schexnayder, R-Gonzales. Although there are only 68 Republicans in the House, the 82-21 vote included 12 Democrats, five of them Black lawmakers.

The Senate’s 27-12 vote was strictly Republicans vs. Democrats. The seat of District 19 Democratic Sen. Gary L. Smith of Norco is expected to go to a Republican. It will be 57.2 percent White and 30.4 percent Black. The Advocate reported that Rep. Greg Miller, R-Norco, has expressed an interest in running for the seat.

Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards isn’t saying whether he would veto any of the redistricting bills, but the House and Senate measures had more than enough votes to override a veto. It takes 70 votes (two-thirds) to override.

Rep. Cedric Glover, D-Shreveport, tried to amend the House bill and he got 70 votes and more against his efforts to change anything. So a veto appears to be out of the question.

The redrawing of election lines isn’t over yet. Still awaiting final action are measures to redraw district election lines for the state’s U.S. House seats, the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, the state Public Service Commission that regulates public utilities and possibly the state Supreme Court.

Supporters of more minority districts have insisted there will be lawsuits filed if more Black districts aren’t created. However, the recent ruling in an Alabama case by the U.S. Supreme Court indicates even lawsuits won’t be successful.

It appears the 2020 U.S. Census isn’t going to change much on the Louisiana political scene.

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