Louisiana redistricting session begins Feb. 1

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - State law-makers will be at the Capitol Tuesday, Feb. 1 kicking off the special re-districting session.

This could have a large impact on who fights for you in D.C. and right here in Louisiana.

WAFB Political Analyst Jim Engster said this happens once every ten years, but is being done later this year because of COVID.

He said this doesn’t leave much time to get it done because there are elections this fall for congress and for the U.S. Senate. That’s not affected by redistricting, but the six congressional seats are and how those lines are drawn could be a battle royal.

Engster said it could end up being quite controversial and it’s not doubtful that this will be an easy process.

“Louisiana has a population that is 33% Black and we have one congressional seat represented by an African American out of six congressional seats so the simple math is that based on population there probably should be two congressional seats represented by Black officials,” said Engster. “Or at least an opportunity for an African American to be elected.”

The maps will not only control what legislators districts look like but also BESE, public service commission, and supreme court districts.

“The question is whether there will be a sweeping change or somewhere in the middle and chance are it will be in the middle and we’ll see who gets the bigger portion of what they want,” said Engster. “The democrats and the governor or the republican super majority in the Senate and almost super majority in the House of Representatives.”

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