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jeff landry
GOP Governor Landry Blasted for Throwing Out 45,000 Votes in Louisiana With a 'Smirk and a Chuckle’
"It’s not a big deal," Landry said after casually announcing that legally cast ballots were "discarded" after he suspended elections.
May 12, 2026
Louisiana's Republican Gov. Jeff Landry is facing criticism over his blasé admission that tens of thousands of Louisianans would have their legally cast ballots thrown out after he suspended the state's primary elections.
Landry signed an executive order suspending the state's May 16 and June 27 primaries immediately after the US Supreme Court’s landmark decision in late April, which held that the state’s maps guaranteeing districts representing the state's Black residents constituted “an unconstitutional racial gerrymander."
The ruling in Louisiana v. Callais effectively destroyed Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and set the stage for the GOP to draw new districts that could totally wipe out the electoral power of Louisiana's Black population, which makes up about one-third of the state, and do the same across the country.
Declaring a "state of emergency," the governor announced that elections were suspended just as early voting was set to begin, leading many to conclude that the right-wing high court's ruling was timed to allow Republicans to maximize their power as they enter this year's midterms.
In an interview with "60 Minutes" on Sunday night, Landry was asked by anchor Cecilia Vega about the unprecedented decision to suspend the election and what would happen to the roughly 45,000 mail ballots cast before the order went into effect.
Landry contended that he had no choice but to suspend the elections because "we don't have a map that our voters can vote on" as a result of the court's ruling.
Vega noted that during times of much greater strife, including "during the Civil War, during two world wars, elections still went on."
"We'll have an election, and we're actually going to have an election on Election Day," Landry responded, in an apparent shot at those who cast their votes early.
"But voting was already happening," Vega said. "More than 45,000 ballots have been returned. What happens to those?"
Landry said, "Those ballots are discarded, and those voters will vote again in November." (Notably, Landry's order does not delay primary elections until November, but until July 15 or whenever the legislature enacts new maps.)
Vega responded with incredulity at the governor's casual acknowledgment that the state would simply throw out tens of thousands of legally cast votes.
“You say that like it’s not a big deal,” she said.
“Well, it’s not a big deal,” Landry responded. “It’s not my fault. If anyone has a grievance, take it to the United States Supreme Court.”
The voting rights-focused news outlet Democracy Docket responded to Landry on social media: "It is a big deal to the 45,000 voters whose ballots you trashed. It’s also your fault."
They echoed the words of Rep. Cleo Fields (D-La.), whose majority Black 6th congressional district in Baton Rouge is expected to be chopped up by the GOP, and who has joined a lawsuit with other candidates hoping to stop Landry's suspension of elections.
“The Supreme Court ruled that the map that you created, that this legislature created, and this governor signed, was illegal,” Fields said to Landry on Monday. "The Supreme Court did not say, ‘Throw away those ballots.’"
The decision to suspend Louisiana’s primary comes amid a multi-pronged assault on voting rights coming from the administration of President Donald Trump, who has himself repeatedly floated the idea of canceling elections and praised Landry for “moving so quickly” to block his constituents from voting.
But many were particularly shocked at Landry's apparent ho-hum attitude toward mass disenfranchisement.
Civil rights attorney and public defender Scott Hechinger marveled at the “governor of Louisiana throwing out 45,000 votes with a smug smirk and a chuckle.”
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Louisiana Voters Launch Court Challenges to GOP Cancellation of In-Progress Primary
"On the heels of a Supreme Court decision that eviscerated protections for voters of color, elected officials jumped at the chance to disenfranchise people—we won't allow it," said the ACLU.
May 01, 2026
Voters and civil rights groups on Friday launched a pair of legal challenges against Republican Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry's suspension of his state's US House primary election following a federal Supreme Court ruling ordering a redraw of a congressional map that was meant to help redress centuries of Black disenfranchisement.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 along ideological lines in Louisiana v. Callais that the state's congressional map is “an unconstitutional racial gerrymander,” an ironic finding given that the map was the result of a federal judge's order to create a second majority-Black US House district in an effort to correct underrepresentation of African Americans, who make up nearly a third of Louisiana's population.
The decision effectively erased the last remaining provision of Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA), which allows voters of color to challenge racially discriminatory electoral maps in court.
The following day, Landry cited the decision in an order suspending the state's US House primaries until a new map is drawn. While President Donald Trump praised Landry, one voting rights campaigner accused Republicans—who fear losing their razor-thin congressional majority in November's midterm elections—of "colluding in broad daylight to try to rig the election and silence Black voters.”
On Friday, the League of Women Voters of Louisiana, Louisiana State Conference of the NAACP, Power Coalition for Equity and Justice, and three individual voters—who are all represented by the Legal Defense Fund, ACLU, and ACLU of Louisiana—filed an emergency motion to block Landry and Secretary of State Nancy Landry’s suspension of the primary after voting has already begun.
The petitioners argued that Landry's move "exceeds the governor’s authority under Louisiana’s laws and Constitution to invoke emergency power to stop the congressional primary elections based on a US Supreme Court ruling and not a natural disaster, public health, or similar emergency threatening the physical safety of Louisianians."
BREAKING: We're suing Louisiana officials for suspending the state's primary election after voting has already begun.On the heels of a Supreme Court decision that eviscerated protections for voters of color, elected officials jumped at the chance to disenfranchise people — we won't allow it.
— ACLU (@aclu.org) May 1, 2026 at 1:52 PM
“Emergency powers are not a blank check to rewrite election rules after voting has begun, nor do they authorize the governor to cancel votes that have already been cast to suit his political purposes," the petitioners and their attorneys said in a statement.
"The governor’s order is sparking chaos and is an illegal effort to erase the legally cast votes and disenfranchise thousands of people across the state," the statement continues. "This is a shameful attempt to weaponize the court’s recent decision at the expense of Black voters and manipulate an ongoing election."
"Gov. Landry and Secretary Landry must serve the people and obey the law," the petitioners and their lawyers added. "Any last-minute effort to alter election procedures or enact discriminatory maps must be stopped.”
Separately on Friday, Louisiana voters who already cast ballots in the primary filed a petition in state court seeking a restraining order to block Landry's move on the same grounds the other groups are arguing.
"Ballots were sent to military voters and overseas voters as required by federal law a month ago," the motion states. "Mail ballots were sent to other voters entitled to vote by mail under Louisiana law almost a week ago. As a result, many voters—including among the petitioners here—have already voted."
The petitioners—the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW)-Greater New Orleans Section and three individual voters—contended that "the governor’s extraordinary and unlawful assertion of the power to cancel an election midstream is both unprecedented and unjustified."
"Quite to the contrary, the Supreme Court has historically found that when voting in an election is within months of beginning—and, here, it has already begun—the state must proceed under the invalidated map, and any infirmities must be corrected for future elections," they added.
🚨BREAKING: On behalf of the National Council of Jewish Women and Louisiana voters, my law firm has sued Governor Jeff Landry (R) and Secretary of State Nancy Landry (R), challenging the state’s decision to suspend the 2026 congressional primary elections. www.democracydocket.com/cases/louisi...
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— Marc Elias (@marcelias.bsky.social) May 1, 2026 at 1:21 PM
Friday's petitions follow the filing of a federal lawsuit arguing Landry's primary postponement poses "imminent" and "irreparable" harms to voters.
In addition to backing the NCJW motion, the National Redistricting Foundation on Friday also petitioned the Supreme Court to "deny Alabama’s desperate and hypocritical attempt to expedite a challenge to its congressional map" as the state's May 19 primary election approaches.
Republican officials in Alabama responded to the Louisiana v. Callais decision by asking the nation's highest court to fast-track its own racially rigged congressional map.
Trump—who has repeatedly floated canceling the midterms—said Thursday that he secured a commitment from Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to “work hard to correct” the his state's congressional map in the wake of the Louisiana v. Callais ruling.
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‘You Cannot Annex Other Countries’: Greenland, Denmark Furious at Trump Special Envoy Appointment
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry's new title "changes nothing for us at home," said the leader of Greenland. "We decide our future ourselves."
Dec 22, 2025
The leaders of Denmark and Greenland have rejected President Donald Trump's plans to take control of the latter country "very clearly before," said Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic Premier Jens-Frederik Nielsen on Monday, but they were forced to make their resolve even more explicit after the US leader appointed a new special envoy to the autonomous Arctic island territory.
"National borders and the sovereignty of states are rooted in international law," said Frederiksen and Nielsen in a joint statement Monday. "You cannot annex other countries... Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders, and the US should not take over Greenland. We expect respect for our common territorial integrity.”
The two leaders spoke out after Trump announced his appointment of Republican Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry as envoy to Greenland, with both men referencing plans to take control of the country of 57,000 people, which is part of the Danish kingdom.
"Jeff understands how essential Greenland is to our National Security, and will strongly advance our Country’s Interests for the Safety, Security, and Survival of our Allies, and indeed, the World," said the president Sunday evening.
Landry replied that it is "an honor to serve you in this volunteer position to make Greenland a part of the US."
While joining Frederiksen in forcefully rejecting any plans for an annexation of Greenland, Nielsen also dismissed Landry's new role in another statement.
“It may sound big," said Nielsen of the Trump administration's latest overtures. "But it changes nothing for us at home... We decide our future ourselves."
Trump has pushed for a takeover of Greenland since his first term in the White House, and he has ramped up efforts this year since returning to office. In August, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen summoned Mark Stroh, the US chargé d'affaires in Denmark, after the country's public broadcaster reported that the Trump administration had launched a covert "influence" campaign to sew discord between Denmark and Greenland.
Earlier this year, polling showed that 85% of Greenlanders opposed joining the US. Hundreds of people protested in Greenland's capital, Nuuk, in March, ahead of US Vice President JD Vance's visit to the country.
Greenlandic photographer Orla Joelsen said Monday that should Landry come to the country, "he will be welcomed by a massive demonstration—larger than the one we held back in March this year."
The White House has said the US should take control of the mineral-rich island for "national security and even international security." According to the US Geological Survey, the Arctic holds 13% of undiscovered oil resources and 30% of undiscovered gas. The climate emergency and melting Arctic ice has also expanded the use of the northern ocean for trade shipping routes, and controlling Greenland would give the US a greater claim in the region.
Trump has threatened to use military action to seize Greenland, saying in March that the White House would "go as far as we have to” to take ownership of the island.
On Monday, Rasmussen told the press he plans to summon the US ambassador to Denmark, Ken Howery, to the European country to demand "an explanation" of Landry's appointment.
Rasmussen said Landry's statement about Greenland was "completely unacceptable."
“As long as we have a kingdom in Denmark that consists of Denmark, the Faroe Islands, and Greenland, we cannot accept that there are those who undermine our sovereignty," he said.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa expressed "full solidarity" with Denmark and Greenland on Monday, calling territorial sovereignty "fundamental principles of international law."
"These principles are essential not only for the European Union," they said, "but for nations around the world."
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