Louisiana
Southern US state whose Callais case rewrote VRA law; ousted Cassidy for Letlow in June.
Louisiana's POST-Callais congressional map, reported on 4 June 2026, cut its majority-Black districts from two to one and drew out Representative Cleo Fields; on 27 June Julia Letlow took the Republican Senate nomination that incumbent Bill Cassidy had lost.
Last refreshed: 1 October 2026 · Appears in 2 active topics
Did unseating Bill Cassidy signal a broader anti-incumbent wave in Republican primaries?
Timeline for Louisiana
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US Midterms 2026Background
Louisiana is a Gulf Coast state of the US South, with its capital at Baton Rouge and six seats in The House of Representatives. About a third of its residents are Black, so the shape of its congressional districts decides how much weight Black voters carry in Washington.
The state has spent years in court over that question. Litigation produced a second majority-Black district for the 2024 election, and Louisiana v. Callais, decided by the Supreme Court on 29 April 2026, removed the federal duty behind it. The case now governs redistricting disputes well beyond Louisiana.
Statewide, Louisiana votes Republican, so its contests for federal office are often settled inside the party. Its 2026 Senate seat was decided that way, in a May primary and a 27 June runoff that Julia Letlow won.
Louisiana lost its second majority-Black district
The state gave its name to the case that undid its own map. Louisiana's second majority-Black district existed because the Supreme Court had ordered it drawn for 2024. The 29 April 2026 Callais decision, carried 6-3, removed the Voting Rights Act duty behind that order, and the judgment took effect at once on 4 May.
The legislature moved straight away. Its new map, reported by Roll Call on 4 June, leaves one majority-Black district among the six and draws Democrat Cleo Fields out of the seat he won in 2024. Louisiana's House members will be chosen on 3 November under lines drawn after the ruling, a course Tennessee and Alabama also took.
Republican voters ousted their sitting senator
Bill Cassidy, WHO voted to convict Donald Trump at the 2021 impeachment trial, finished third in Louisiana's May Republican primary on 24.8%. Trump-endorsed Julia Letlow led with 44.8% and state treasurer John Fleming took 28.3%, setting up a 27 June runoff. Cassidy became the first elected senator to lose renomination since Richard Lugar in 2012.
Outside money ran one way. A pro-Letlow Super PAC committed more than $6m while Fleming drew almost nothing, yet a poll taken on 15 and 16 June put the pair inside the margin of error. Letlow won on 27 June by 56.8% to 43.2%, on turnout 21% below May's. Louisiana Republicans thus replaced a senator WHO voted to convict Trump with a nominee he endorsed.