Baton Rouge, Louisiana — BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — For nearly three decades, the small town of Mansfield has been represented in Louisiana’s congressional delegation by white Republicans, even though its population is about 80% black and leans heavily Democratic.
That changed with the US elections last year Rep. Cleo Fieldsa black Democrat who managed to win after drawing a new political map A second congressional district with a black majority In the country.
Mansfield Mayor Thomas Jones Jr. said he and others finally feel as though their communities are represented in the nation’s capital.
“We feel connected, like we have someone helping us,” he said.
Fields’ seat, and what Jones describes as the benefits of having him in Washington, may disappear depending on how it disappears US Supreme Court rules in condition It will be heard Wednesday.
Region fields represent a result Tough battle By civil rights groups representing black voters in the state. Leaders of majority-Black communities across the 218-mile (350-kilometer) region said they feel it finally gives them a voice to represent their needs.
But opponents say The district’s boundaries were unconstitutionally manipulated On the basis of race. If the court ultimately rules in favor of the plaintiffs, the decision could have a ripple effect beyond this region of Louisiana. That would likely unseat the last major pillar of the 60-year-old Voting Rights Act And preventing black voters from challenging political maps that weaken their influence.
Louisiana’s new 6th Congressional District, which roughly follows the Red River, runs across the state in a narrow diagonal path. It extends from the state capital, Baton Rouge, in southern Louisiana to Shreveport, in the northwest corner of the state.
The district includes part or all of the ten parishes. It connects parts of the country that some say are vastly different in their priorities, geography, economies — and even their gumbo recipes.
Fields acknowledges criticism of the district’s snake-like shape that helped make it majority black, but he says it is contiguous and said all of the state’s congressional districts are geographically large, representing both urban and rural areas. More importantly, he said, the district gives “people of color an opportunity, not a guarantee, to elect a candidate of their choice.”
“She tells me I have to jump a certain height, and I can work on that. She tells me I have to run faster, and I can work on that, too,” he said. “But you told me I had to be white, and there was nothing I could do about it.”
In 2022, Louisiana’s GOP-dominated Legislature drew congressional boundaries that… It maintained a majority black district Five districts are mostly white, in a state whose population is about a third black. A federal judge later Hit the map for violating the Voting Rights Act, and in a major case the following year The Supreme Court found that That Alabama had to create a second congressional district with a black majority.
Instead of forcing the judge to draw his own map, Louisiana’s Republican-controlled Legislature and its Republican governor Current map passed That created a second, majority-black district.
Black residents now represent 54% of registered voters in the Fields district, compared to 24% under the previous boundaries.
In much of the South, older black residents still remember that Jim Crow era methods About voting such as literacy tests and poll taxes that were designed to disenfranchise them.
In Louisiana, civil rights groups claimed that the lack of a second majority minority parliamentary district was a recent effort to dilute black voting power. For decades, with a brief exception in the 1990s, Louisiana had one majority black district.
“It’s as if when you only have one black member of Congress, he becomes the congressman for every African American in the state,” said State Rep. Denise Marcille, a Black Democrat in East Baton Rouge Parish.
When the second black majority district was created, some leaders said it did not necessarily matter whether their district was included in it or not. His presence at all was more important.
“I’m not married, necessarily, to the current makeup of the maps… and I’m not even married to the representative who represents Congressman Fields,” said Baton Rouge City Councilman Cliff Dunn Jr., a black Democrat. “We just learned that with a second congressional district that represents a minority population, the person sitting in that seat is going to represent the values of the Congressional Black Caucus. That’s the important thing.”
Dunn said he had a relationship with the Republican who represented the district before it was redrawn and said he was accessible. Dan said he saw the world politically in a different way.
“We feel positive that we have a representative who understands the plight of our people, the needs of our people, and will fight for things for our people,” he said.
Community leaders in the Fields District have listed a host of needs: providing low-income housing, protecting and expanding Medicaid, keeping rural hospitals open, addressing food deserts and providing money for community centers and other infrastructure.
Some said the benefits have been tangible in Fields’ short time in office — from helping residents access Social Security benefits to working to secure federal funding for local projects. Several people reported seeing Fields in the area.
“The main thing, quite frankly, that I’ve done over the last nine months is to connect Congress to the people,” Fields said.
Jones, the Mansfield mayor, said that in his nearly 20 years in local government, he can’t remember a time when a member of Congress held a town hall meeting in his community. Fields kept three.
Among the priorities of the town of 4,000 people is getting a grant to repair and replace the deteriorating sewage system, which builds up in people’s homes and flows into the streets when it rains.
Jones said he has been asking for funding for five years. While the town received limited funds that were used to make patchwork repairs, he said that with Fields’ help, it is scheduled to be approved for a grant next year that he hopes will solve the system’s problems.
This was the first time Jones could recall any member of Congress reaching out to him to say they might be able to allocate some appropriations and requesting a list of city priorities.
“I feel like he’s reaching out to us to make sure someone knows our needs and gets us some help,” Jones said.
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Associated Press writer Gary Fields in Washington contributed to this report.