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La. one step closer to second majority-Black district; Gov. Landry pushes for closed primaries

Tom Arthur
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Wikimedia

A map with a second majority-Black district gained approval by both Louisiana’s House and Senate this week. This comes after a federal judge ordered a new congressional map that more accurately reflects the state’s demographics.

State politics reporter Molly Ryan and The Times Picayune/The Advocate’s editorial director and columnist Stephanie Grace join us to discuss the session and what might happen next.

Closed primaries — where only members of that political party can vote — are common across the country. But Louisiana abandoned this method in 1971 in favor of a jungle primary, where all candidates face one another on the same ballot and everyone votes regardless of party affiliation.

Now, Gov. Jeff Landry wants to return to a closed primary, citing simplicity and fairness.

Robert Collins, professor of urban studies and public policy at Dillard University breaks down the key differences between the primary systems and discusses the potential political agendas attached to each.

Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Bob Pavlovich. Our managing producer is Alana Schreiber and our assistant producer is Aubry Procell. Our engineer is Garrett Pittman. 

You can listen to Louisiana Considered Monday through Friday at 12 and 7 p.m. It’s available on Spotify, Google Play and wherever you get your podcasts. 

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Bob Pavlovich, a long-time fill-in host for New Orleans Public Radio, joined the station full-time in 2023. He hosts "All Things Considered" and "Louisiana Considered" on Thursdays.
Alana Schreiber is the managing producer for the live daily news program, Louisiana Considered. She comes to WRKF from KUNC in Northern Colorado, where she worked as a radio producer for the daily news magazine, Colorado Edition. She has previously interned for Minnesota Public Radio in St. Paul and The Documentary Group in New York City.