U.S. Rep. Garret Graves, the Louisiana Republican most at risk of losing a seat in the House after the approval of new Congressional districts, says the super-majority Republican state legislature may have just cost their own party the majority in the U.S. House.
"Can you imagine a scenario where in November we go through the elections and Hakeem Jefferies has a one-seat majority?" Graves said to our partners at NOLA.com. "It would be the Republican governor in Louisiana, the Republican House, and the Republican state Senate who voted to give a Republican seat away, which would lose the speaker of the House, the majority leader, the next transportation committee chair (Graves). Can you imagine the egg on their face?"
In another interview with USA Today Network, Graves said the approval of the new districts was "a boneheaded move."
State lawmakers re-drew district boundaries to create a second majority-Black voting district. Louisiana's population is roughly one-third Black, and federal courts ruled having only one majority-Black district out of six violates the Voting Rights Act.
Graves said he is running for reelection despite the changes to his district.
