Louisiana’s 2026 Congressional Map — Not Done Yet

Louisiana has a new congressional map. Whether it will be the map used for the 2026 elections remains an open question. Senate Bill 121 has now become Act 2 of the 2026 Regular Session, replacing Louisiana’s prior congressional district plan. The new law follows the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais, which reopened the fight over how Louisiana’s congressional districts should be drawn.

But the legal fight has not ended. Attorneys for the Callais plaintiffs continue to press their own remedial proposal in federal court. Attorney Paul Hurd provided Citizens for a New Louisiana with the plaintiffs’ map for public review, known here as the Hurd or P_518 map. Rather than asking readers to take anyone’s word for it, we are publishing both maps below for comparison. Each map includes district-level demographic and voter-registration data so readers can explore the competing approaches themselves. To date, some of the demographic information has not been made publicly available. As a result, portions of the analysis required additional calculations.

Map 1: Act No. 2 / Enrolled SB121

This is the congressional map adopted by the Legislature through SB121 and enrolled as Act 2. It is the Legislature’s current remedial proposal following the Supreme Court’s ruling.

Map 2: Hurd / P_518 Plaintiffs’ Proposal

This is the alternative remedial map provided by attorney Paul Hurd, representing plaintiffs in the ongoing Callais litigation.

What the Numbers Show

The two proposals take substantially different approaches to Louisiana’s congressional geography. The enacted SB121 map creates a single district with a Black voting-age population exceeding 58 percent. The Hurd proposal does not create a district with the same concentration; instead, it spreads the Black voting-age population more evenly across multiple districts.

Readers should be careful comparing district numbers directly. District 2 in one plan is not necessarily the same geographic district as District 2 in the other plan. Still, district-by-district statistics help show what each map does overall.

District	Current Rep	Act No. 2 Black VAP	Act No. 2 White VAP	Act No. 2 Dem Reg.	Act No. 2 GOP Reg.	Hurd Black VAP	Hurd White VAP	Hurd Dem Reg.	Hurd GOP Reg.
CD1	Steve Scalise	13.3%	72.6%	24.3%	45.5%	19.1%	68.1%	27.6%	42.6%
CD2	Troy Carter	58.3%	30.9%	60.8%	13.2%	40.0%	48.1%	46.4%	26.7%
CD3	Clay Higgins	27.8%	64.8%	31.9%	41.7%	29.6%	63.5%	34.4%	39.2%
CD4	Mike Johnson	30.3%	62.3%	32.1%	42.7%	31.5%	61.2%	28.5%	46.4%
CD5	Julia Letlow	33.2%	60.9%	34.2%	42.4%	38.8%	55.6%	37.9%	39.0%
CD6	Cleo Fields	24.5%	65.7%	30.9%	41.9%	28.7%	60.4%	35.2%	37.2%

One Map Concentrates, the Other Distributes

The most obvious difference is District 2, currently held by Troy Carter. Under Act 2, District 2 has a Black voting-age population (B-VAP) of approximately 58.3 percent and a Democratic registration of approximately 60.8 percent. Under the Hurd proposal, District 2 contains the highest Black voting-age population percentage, at approximately 40.0 percent, and a Democratic registration of approximately 46.4 percent.

District 2 is also notable in another way. SB121’s version is less compact than the Hurd proposal. It retains the “Snake District” feel, resembling prior maps criticized as racial gerrymanders. Similarly, District 6, which looks like a strange creature chomping “the snake” on SB121, is a more docile, contiguous blob on the Hurd version.

The Legal Fight Continues

Act No. 2 may represent the Legislature’s answer to the Supreme Court’s ruling, but it is not necessarily the final word. Hurd told Citizens for a New Louisiana that the Callais plaintiffs continue to litigate the map. He also said the court has required the Secretary of State to provide a formal statement regarding election-related deadlines, which is reportedly due on Monday.

That timing matters. Congressional candidates, voters, campaigns, election officials, and courts all need to know which map will govern the 2026 election cycle. The Legislature has now acted, but the courts remain an intertwined part of the process. While Louisiana’s congressional map fight has moved into a new phase, the question is no longer only whether the old map was unconstitutional. The question is now which replacement map, if any, will survive judicial review in time for the next election.

How We Built These Maps

Citizens for a New Louisiana converted the district boundary files into Google-compatible map layers and added demographic information to each district. The Act No. 2 map uses the Legislature’s enacted district geometry and the 2026 Louisiana precinct shapefiles referenced in the Act. The Hurd map uses the P_518 district geometry provided by counsel and the same statewide precinct demographic data.

Because no one wants to be accused of using race to draw districts, none of the corresponding data for either publicly released map (Act 2 or Hurd) provided racial VAP information. However, everyone wants to know the racial breakdown of these new districts. To back-fill this data, we cross-referenced the block equivalency files with the racial VAP metadata made available from the Secretary of State’s office. For the Hurd map, we also had to use the 2026 Precinct Shapefiles to calculate the various VAP percentages for split parishes. One might correctly refer to this as a “Herculean task.”

These maps and accompanying data are provided for public review and comparison purposes only. While we’re very comfortable with the summaries we extrapolated from the raw data, they should not be considered to meet legal or scientific scrutiny standards. Further, Citizens for a New Louisiana takes no position here on which map should prevail in federal court.

Downloads

• Download Act No. 2 / SB121 KMZ (Google Earth Format)
• Download Act No. 2 / SB121 CSV (Spreadsheet)
• Download Hurd / P_518 KMZ (Google Earth Format)
• Download Hurd / P_518 CSV (Spreadsheet)

The public deserves more than static screenshots and competing press releases. These maps allow readers to see the geography, click the districts, and inspect the data for themselves.

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