UPDATE 1-Louisiana governor plans to suspend May primary to redraw US House map, Washington Post reports

Louisiana ​Governor Jeff Landry told Republican House ​candidates on Wednesday that he ‌planned ​to suspend next month's primary elections to allow state lawmakers to pass a new congressional map, the Washington Post reported, citing ‌two people with knowledge of the calls.

The Republican governor's announcement to suspend the May 16 primary could come as early as Friday, a day before early voting is set to ‌start, the Washington Post report said. Reuters could not immediately verify the report. ‌Landry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Landry's move follows a 6-3 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that blocked an electoral map that had given Louisiana a second Black-majority U.S. congressional ⁠district. ​Black people make ⁠up roughly a third of the population of Louisiana, which has six U.S. House districts. The Supreme Court ruling ⁠gutted a key provision of the Voting Rights Act making it harder for minorities to challenge electoral ​maps as racially discriminatory under the landmark civil rights law.

With November congressional elections ⁠looming, the decision could encourage Republican-led states to seek to redraw electoral maps in an effort that could ⁠put ​at risk U.S. House of Representatives seats considered safely Democratic. Black voters tend to support Democratic candidates. The Supreme Court issued its ruling

Republican-governed and Democratic-led states around the country ⁠battle over the redrawing of electoral maps to change the composition of U.S. House districts ⁠for partisan advantage ahead ⁠of the November elections. U.S. President Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans hope to retain the party's razor-thin majorities in the House ‌and Senate.

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