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A rift between a Republican congressman and the governor was highlighted by testimony on Tuesday in a federal trial to determine the future of Louisiana’s new congressional map and second majority-Black district, the USA Today Network reports.
Plaintiffs are arguing in Shreveport federal court that the map should be overturned because they contend its boundaries were gerrymandered solely based on race to create a second Black congressional district among the state’s six. The lawsuit challenging the map attacks the new majority-Black 6th Congressional District boundaries, which stretch from Baton Rouge to Lafayette to Alexandria to Shreveport, as unconstitutional.
But the state contends additional factors drove the map, including the politics of protecting powerful incumbent Louisiana Republicans U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (4th District), Majority Leader Steve Scalise (1st District) and Julia Letlow (5th District), a member of the Appropriations Committee that controls the country’s pursestrings.
But doing so put U.S. Rep Garret Graves, the current 6th District congressman, in peril by dismantling his boundaries in favor of a majority-Black voter population.
State Rep. Mandie Landry, D-New Orleans, testified Tuesday as part of the defense of the map that putting Graves’ career on the line was Republican Gov. Jeff Landry’s plan.
Mandie Landry testified on Tuesday that it was common knowledge among lawmakers and reported widely by media that Jeff Landry would throw his support behind a map that could end Graves’ career in Congress. Graves had endorsed a Republican rival of Jeff Landry in last year’s governor’s race.
“The governor wanted Congressman Graves out,” Landry said in her testimony. “Congressman Graves was targeted in the map. The governor and Congressman Graves had a longstanding contentious relationship. It was the one [map] we all understood would go through.”
The trial is expected to conclude Wednesday with a decision from the judges coming within as soon as a week.
