Cleo Fields

Congressman Cleo Fields spoke in Lafayette on Wednesday evening regarding Louisiana’s redistricting effort that if successful, will likely lead to his ouster.

Fields represents the 6th congressional district that was the focus of a recent landmark Supreme Court ruling in Louisiana v. Callais. The court ruled that the district was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander not protected by the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It’s a departure from prior court precedent on the subject.

“I still don't understand it”, Fields said. “We went down this road 150 years ago with Reconstruction. Louisiana was the first state to elect a black member of Congress, and now we’re trying to silence those voices”.

The event is the third Fields has conducted this week as part of his Redistricting Information Town Hall series, with the prior two events taking place in Shreveport and Alexandria.

One of Fields’ primary purposes in holding town halls has been to inform constituents about an ongoing legal appeal he signed onto that aims to strike down an executive order issued by Governor Jeff Landry following the court ruling.

Landry’s executive order required the state legislature to redraw congressional districts in order to comply with the decision, however Fields pointed out that the Supreme Court did not issue an opinion on whether the elections should be delayed.

“Nothing in the opinion required the state to delay primaries in order to redistrict. People were already voting. They had already received ballots”, Fields said.

While the delay of the primary elections is unprecedented in the state of Louisiana, it isn’t the first time Fields has been involved in a contentious redistricting fight.

Fields first served in congress between 1993-1997, representing a majority African-American district that stitched together minority neighborhoods in Shreveport, Alexandria and Baton Rouge with rural communities throughout the state. The district was ruled an unconstitutional gerrymander in 1995, resulting in the state’s districts being redrawn. Fields did not stand for re-election in 1996, instead mounting an unsuccessful campaign for governor that he lost to Republican candidate Mike Foster.

Fields returned to the U.S. congress in 2024 after Louisiana added a second majority African-American district to comply with a lower court ruling. The new district was met with near instantaneous legal challenges. Fields pointed out the similarity between the two situations on Wednesday.

“I have not spent a single day in congress where there has not been a federal lawsuit against the district that I represent”, Fields said. “These districts are really important here, because while almost half of black members of Congress represent districts that are not majority-black, very few of them are from the South”.

Fields continued to urge voter participation in the May 16 election, with primaries for U.S. Senate and five constitutional amendments remaining on the ballot.

One of the candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for U.S. senate, Tensas Parish farmer Jamie Davis, was in attendance and spoke in support of Fields’ legal challenge.

“I support everything you’re doing, congressman, and I’m with you all the way on trying to prevent this delay from happening”.

The primary for U.S. Senate remains unaffected by Landry’s executive order and will continue as scheduled on May 16.

Caleb Walker, who had mounted a campaign for the House of Representatives in the 3rd district, also spoke during the open comment portion of the event. Walker’s campaign for the district seat has also been put in limbo due to the sudden redistricting plan. He expressed frustration over the change as well as what he termed a “media erasure” of black candidates for public office.

“I feel a certain frustration in getting our voices heard right now. I’ve seen it in my own campaign where I struggled to be taken seriously as a candidate for office”, Walker said.

Similarly, Fields argued that the Supreme Court decision was a direct on African-American voter rights, evoking Civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and John Lewis, as well as comparing the decision to Plessey v. Ferguson, an 1896 case that famously established the “separate but equal” doctrine, and allowed for continued segregation in Southern states.

“Our fight is not about me. Our fight is about whether a person who looks like me will be able to serve in Congress in the state of Louisiana”, Fields said. “That’s what’s under attack right now”.

Fields did not indicate whether he would continue to run for office if the state’s redistricting efforts are successful. While no timeline for Louisiana’s congressional elections are currently available, it is estimated that new maps will be approved in time for a July filing deadline for new candidates, with party primaries being held in November alongside the general election for U.S. Senate. Under this plan, a general election would be held in December.