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A predominantly Black Baton Rouge community is facing a major change in congressional representation after Louisiana redrew its U.S. House districts.
Scotlandville, a nearly all-Black community of about 10,000 people, was moved into a majority-white congressional district under Louisiana’s new map.
It is the second time the community has been shifted out of a district designed to give Black voters greater influence, with the first change coming in 1996, according to the Associated Press.
The latest redistricting followed a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found the state’s previous 6th Congressional District unconstitutional. The district had been majority Black and was represented by Democratic Rep. Cleo Fields, a Scotlandville native.
Fields’ district was 53% Black under the previous map. That percentage fell to 25% under the new boundaries, according to an AP analysis. Fields announced in July that he would not seek reelection.
The redistricting is the latest chapter in a decades-long legal fight over political representation in Louisiana. Fields first went to Congress in 1993 after Scotlandville was included in a majority-Black district. A federal court struck down those boundaries in 1996, and Scotlandville was moved into a predominantly white district.
After litigation following the 2020 census, a 2023 court decision required Louisiana to create a second majority-Black congressional district. Fields won that seat in 2024. The Supreme Court’s ruling this year prompted Louisiana to redraw the district again.
Press Robinson Sr., an 89-year-old voting rights advocate who has challenged Louisiana’s congressional maps, told the AP, “We’re back to where we were right after Reconstruction.”
Dakasha Caulfield Leonard, a Scotlandville funeral home owner, said Fields’ connection to the community made his representation particularly important.
“The community is small, and everybody knows everybody. Cleo is a member of our community,” Leonard said. “If he doesn’t speak up and carry our voices, there’s nobody else to do that for us.”
The changes come as several Southern states redraw congressional maps ahead of the November midterm elections, raising new questions about Black voters' political power.
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