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Cleo Fields Louisiana congressional exit, will seak state senate seat
Cleo Fields, the Democratic U.S. Rep. in Louisiana, announced Tuesday he would not seek reelection to his redrawn congressional district.
“After a great deal of prayer and reflection, I have decided not to seek reelection, to Congress, in the 6th District or any other district in Louisiana,” Fields said.
The district, of course, was at the center of a major U.S. Supreme Court ruling on race and redistricting.
The majority Black congressional district was redrawn by the state legislature in May to favor Republicans in November’s midterm elections.
A month earlier, the Supreme Court ruled, per The Associated Press, that Fields’ district relied too heavily on race and was an “unconstitutional gerrymander.”
Fields said he would instead seek a seat in the state Senate.
Louisiana Republicans had considered drawing a map this year that would have given the party a shot at winning all six of the state’s U.S. House seats. But that would have required adding more registered Democrats to Republican-held districts, potentially backfiring with GOP losses.
The new map renews Fields’ district to cluster it around predominantly white communities in the Baton Rouge area and southern Louisiana.
In June, the Supreme Court ruled that Alabama could use a map that favored Republicans in this year’s elections.