Louisiana's 6th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The district covers a backslash-shaped region stretching from Shreveport in the northwest of the state, roughly following the Red River of the South and the Mississippi River to the state capital of Baton Rouge, encompassing most of the majority-Black areas in between.
The district is currently represented by Democrat Cleo Fields, who represented the 4th district from 1993 to 1997 when it was constituted as majority Black.
For most of its existence, the 6th congressional district has contained a significant portion of Baton Rouge. Since its creation, its boundaries have migrated from a position astraddle the Mississippi River to completely east of the Mississippi River and more recently astraddle the river again.
For decades prior to 1972, the district was virtually coterminous with the Florida Parishes. In 1972, the district shed St. Tammany Parish to the 1st congressional district, and since then several redistrictings have incrementally moved the district's boundaries westward so that it has shed both Washington and Tangipahoa parishes (including Hammond, home of James H. Morrison, who represented the district for 24 years, the longest tenure of anyone ever to represent the district) to the 1st district.
For most of its existence, the district's lines generally followed parish lines. In the 1990s redistricting, however, most of the district's black voters were transferred to the black-majority 4th district. Those lines, however, were thrown out in 1995 when the 4th was ruled to be an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, and from 1996 to 2013, the 6th included all of Baton Rouge. After the 2010 redistricting, a gash in western Baton Rouge, including most of the city's black precincts, was transferred to the New OrleansâÂÂbased 2nd district.
Following a court ruling striking down Louisiana's 2022 congressional map for violating the Voting Rights Act, a new map enacted by a special legislative session on January 22, 2024, significantly redrew the 6th. It now stretches from Caddo Parish in the northwest to East Baton Rouge Parish, and will include a majority African-American voting-age population. Most of Baton Rouge's whiter and wealthier portions, along with Louisiana State University (LSU), were shifted to the 5th district. Even without LSU, the district includes two state universities, Southern in Baton Rouge and Northwestern State in Natchitoches.
For the 119th and successive Congresses (based on the districts drawn following a 2023 court order), the district contains all or portions of the following parishes and communities.
Avoyelles Parish (7)
Caddo Parish (1)
DeSoto Parish (4)
Lafayette Parish (3)
Natchitoches Parish (12)
Rapides Parish (8)
St. Landry Parish (13)