Within hours of his first day in office, Louisiana governor Jeff Landry issued an executive order calling for a special session of the Louisiana State Legislature to take up the task of redrawing the state’s current congressional map which a federal judge determined violates the Voting Rights Act.
The judge ruled that map dilutes the Black vote in Louisiana. Through the special session, Governor Landry is also seeking to have the districts for the State Supreme Court to be redrawn and to move Louisiana from its current open primary election system to one that is closed. Landry replaced outgoing John Bel Edwards, who was the lone Democratic governor in the Deep South. Governor Landry, a staunch conservative Republican, made public safety and crime fighting central themes in his campaign. With Landry now in the governor’s mansion, Republicans are in full control of state government.
The GOP holds a super majority in both chambers of the Louisiana State Legislature.
“They can pretty much do whatever they want without any assistance from the Democratic Party. For all intents and purposes, when it comes to a vote in the legislature, Democrats can vote their conscience, but it’s not going to affect the outcome of the vote. If Republicans are united the Democrats are on the sideline,” said Dr. Ed Chervenak.
Dr. Chervenak is a political science professor at the University of New Orleans and also the director of the UNO Survey Research Center. I recently sat down with Dr. Chervenak to get his take on what the next four years may bring under the Landry administration. The governor has been a strong supporter of former President Donlad Trump. Chervenak says MAGA Republicans will likely appreciate Landry’s cultural warrior stance on issues like limiting LGTBQ rights and banning gender affirming care for transgender young people. But campaigning and governing are two different animals and Chervenak says Landry is now the governor of all of Louisiana…not just its Republican regions. Governor Landry and the state’s Republicans won’t get too much interference from the state’s Democratic Party, which Dr. Chervenak says is in complete “disarray”. Listen to the podcast here.