Cleo Fields

Congressional elections that Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry canceled earlier this year are now beginning to pick up some news interest. U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge, has announced he won’t be running for re-election to the newly drawn Republican 6th Congressional District seat that he won in 2024.

OK, that raises the question: What is Garret Graves going to do? Graves, a Republican from Baton Rouge, represented the state’s 6th Congressional District from 2015 to 2025. After redistricting dismantled his district, he declined to run for re-election in 2024.

In 2024, GOP Gov. Jeff Landry wanted a second majority-Black congressional district that Republican leaders hoped would target Graves. Republican leaders believed Graves didn’t help House Majority Leader Steve Scalise become House speaker.

Landry was also upset with Graves for endorsing Republican Stephen Waguespack for governor in the race that Landry won.

The Legislature made the majority-Black district a majority-Republican district earlier this year after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that lawmakers relied too much on race to draw the previous district.

The Advocate said the redrawn 6th District is closer to Baton Rouge. It is now composed of 61.1% of the voters who backed President Donald Trump for president in 2024, with 65.2% of the vote and 66.4% of the vote in 2020.

The Republican supermajority in the state Legislature approved the new district, which curls around the majority-Black 2nd Congressional District along the Mississippi River.

Candidates for the six Louisiana seats in the U.S. House of Representatives will be qualifying Aug. 5-7. The election will take place Nov. 3 with all candidates competing regardless of party (an open primary). If necessary, a Dec. 12 runoff has been scheduled.

Four of Louisiana’s current House members are expected to seek re-election. They are Steve Scalise of the 1st District, Troy Carter of the 2nd District, Clay Higgins of the 3rd District, and Mike Johnson of the 4th District. Johnson is also the current U.S. House speaker. Carter is a Democrat and the others are Republicans.

GOP U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow of the 5th District won the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate, and she is a favorite to win the general election in November. Candidates expected to run for the 5th District seat are state Rep. Michael Echols, a Republican from Monroe; Misti Cordell, a friend and ally of Gov. Landry; state Sen. Stewart Cathey, a Republican from Monroe; and state Rep. Gabe Firment, a Republican from Pollock.

The Advocate said that state Sen. Rick Edmonds, R-Baton Rouge, is so far the only major candidate to declare he’s running in the newly drawn 6th Congressional District. However, state Sen. Blake Miguez, R-New Iberia, is considered a wild card who hasn’t said whether he’ll run.

When contacted by The Advocate Tuesday afternoon, apparently to see if he might seek the 6th District seat again this November, Graves did not respond to a request for comment. Maybe he’s thinking about running for governor next year. He would definitely be a good candidate.

Gov. Landry is beginning to work on his re-election campaign for the gubernatorial primary on Oct. 9, 2027. He had $10.7 million cash on hand at the beginning of this year and he has talked about the record economic growth that has occurred during his term.

Although no one has announced plans to oppose Landry, many political analysts believe Graves could become a serious opponent. Graves has a great record of public service and has worked with some of this state’s most productive members of Congress.

In 2008, Gov. Bobby Jindal appointed Graves to chair the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority. As chair, he negotiated for the state with BP over the Deepwater Horizon oil spill until resigning on Feb. 17, 2014, to run for Congress.

Graves defended open primaries in a recent column in The Advocate. Landry early in his term had the Legislature switch from open to closed political party primaries for four state agencies.

With open primaries, Graves said, “Republicans, Democrats, independents and unaffiliated voters all participated in a common contest. Candidates were required to persuade not only their most loyal supporters, but voters from across the political spectrum.

“In many respects it was the purest form of free market politics in America today.”

Louisiana voters love the open primary and that would make it a great Graves gubernatorial campaign issue.