By Aaron Navarro
Updated on: May 1, 2026 / 5:36 AM EDT / CBS News
Louisiana Secretary of State Nancy Landry announced Thursday that the state will suspend its U.S. House primaries scheduled for May 16 after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the state’s congressional map. Landry said the House races will remain on ballots, but “any votes cast in those races will not be counted.”
Landry said she certified an emergency pursuant to La. Stat. 18:401.1(B), a mandatory step before the governor can issue an executive order suspending the contests. Gov. Jeff Landry signed an executive order Thursday suspending the House primaries until July 15, or “until such time as determined by the legislature,” and urged the Louisiana Legislature to adopt new congressional maps and schedule elections “as soon as practical.”
Other contests, including Senate primaries, will proceed as planned, Landry said. Her office indicated it will post notices at early voting sites to inform voters of the suspension for the House races.
The suspension prompted immediate legal responses. A three-judge federal appeals court panel — the same panel that handled the original case appealed to the Supreme Court — issued a brief order suspending the state’s House primaries until new maps are drawn, a move The Associated Press described as premature. Prominent Democratic election lawyer Marc Elias announced he filed suit challenging Landry’s certification and the suspension.
Local reports say former NAACP Baton Rouge branch president Eugene Collins and U.S. House candidate Lindsay Garcia sued Gov. Landry, Secretary of State Landry and former Secretary of State Liz Murrell in federal court seeking to compel the state to hold the House primaries as scheduled. Their complaint argues the suspension will disenfranchise voters, noting absentee ballots already have been cast and that the Supreme Court did not order cancellation, postponement or suspension of any election.
The suspension comes just days before early voting was to begin.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a lower court finding that Louisiana mapmakers relied too heavily on race when redrawing the state’s voting boundaries to comply with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. In a 6-3 decision authored by Justice Samuel Alito, the Court’s conservative majority concluded that compliance with Section 2 could not justify the use of race in drawing the state’s House district lines.
Elsewhere, Florida Republicans this week approved a new congressional map pushed by Gov. Ron DeSantis after litigating over redistricting and the implications of the Supreme Court decision for state redistricting rules.
Melissa Quinn contributed to this report.