Power
One Supreme Court Ruling, Three State Scrambles: How Callais Reshaped the 2026 Midterm Map in Seventeen Days
[Updated May 20, 2026 with correction: HB 842 was in fact signed by Governor Landry on May 14 as Act 7 of the 2026 Regular Session, before this article ran. See the follow-on dispatch linked in the article.] Five days after the Callais cascade article ran, the bills it anticipated have taken shape on the legis.la.gov docket. The Louisiana Senate passed SB 121 on May 14 along party lines, 27 to 10 — a congressional map that reduces the state's majority-Black districts from two to one and absorbs Representative Cleo Fields' Sixth District into surrounding Republican-leaning territory. The same week, both chambers adopted the conference report on HB 842, which voids the May 16 and June 27 U.S. House ballots, returns the 2026 congressional races to a jungle primary, and sets a November 3 open primary with a December 12 runoff. As of Tuesday morning SB 121 sits with the House and Governmental Affairs Committee awaiting hearing. Litigation has not yet been filed.
