Louisiana congressional races attract newcomers and incumbents vying for seats

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The deadline for candidates to qualify for Louisiana’s six congressional races concluded Friday, marking the unofficial intensifying of campaign season and cementing who will be on the November ballot.

In a pivotal election year, most eyes are on the race for Louisiana’s 6th Congressional District. The political boundaries of the area were recently redrawn by lawmakers, under the direction of the courts and governor, to create the state’s second majority-Black district. Additionally, the GOP congressman representing the district, U.S. Rep. Garret Graves, has opted not to seek reelection.

Democrats are looking to capitalize on the redrawn district — especially given that voting patterns in Louisiana point toward a mostly Black district more likely to send a Democrat to Congress — seeing an attainable opportunity to flip a reliably red seat blue. Republicans, who have held the seat for most of the last five decades, are fighting to preserve the GOP majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Five candidates have signed up to run in the wide-open race. Among the well-known candidates are Democratic state Sen. Cleo Fields, a 61-year-old who served in Congress in the ‘90s, and Elbert Guillory, an 80-year-old Republican who is a former state senator.

Under Louisiana’s open primary system, all candidates — regardless of party affiliation — run against one another on the same ballot on Nov. 5. If no candidate tops 50% in that primary, the top two vote-getters advance to the general election on Dec. 7.

Incumbents in the five other congressional districts — U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins and U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow — also qualified for the election. All face lesser-known challengers.

In order to qualify, congressional candidates must fill out paperwork and pay a $600 fee or collect 1,000 signatures from voters in their district.