Louisiana Democrats endorse Fields for new majority-Black congressional district  • Louisiana Illuminator

The Louisiana Democratic State Central Committee voted Saturday to formalize its support for state Sen. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge, in his bid to return to congress in the state’s new majority-Black 6th Congressional District. 

Fields got the state party’s official nod alongside U.S. Rep Troy Carter, who is running for his third term in the 2nd District, Louisiana’s other majority-Black seat. 

Also endorsed were Mel Manuel, running to unseat U.S. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, in the 1st District, Sadi Summerlin, running against Rep. Clay Higgins, R-Lafayette, in the 3rd District and Nick Laborde, running for the open Public Service Commission District 2 seat. 

“I think that with the talent and the combination of excitement … I think we’re gonna be able to prepare all our candidates for victory in November,” Louisiana Democratic Party Chairman Randal Gaines said in an interview with the Illuminator. 

Fields previously served two terms in congress in the 1990s, when Louisiana had two majority-Black congressional districts until Fields’ district was thrown out as an unconstitutional gerrymander. 

Louisiana had a single majority Black district until earlier this year, when the Legislature drew another to comply with a federal court ruling that its congressional redistricting plan adopted in 2022 unconstitutionally discriminated against Black voters. 

If elected, Fields will replace U.S. Rep. Garret Graves, R-Baton Rouge, who decided against running for re-election after the GOP-dominated Legislature chose his district as a sacrificial lamb to become the new majority-Black seat. 

Should he win the 6th District seat, Fields will be slightly senior to Carter in the U.S House, as Fields served two full terms while Carter has served less than a full year of his first term after winning a special election in April 2021 to replace former U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans, who resigned to join President Joe Biden’s administration. 

Both will face Democratic opposition. 

Fields, Quentin Anderson and Peter Williams received nominations for the party endorsement, with Fields’ 95 supporters on the Democratic State Central Committee easily defeating Anderson’s 45 and Williams’ four. 

A fourth Democratic candidate, Wilken Jones, did not receive a nomination. 

Former state Sen. Elbert Guillory, a Democrat-turned-Republican from Opelousas who is also Black, is also running for the 6th District seat. He’s received the Louisiana GOP’s endorsement. 

Carter will face several Republican challengers as well as fellow Democrat Devin Davis, who received 21 votes for the endorsement to Carter’s 124. 

Davis alleged State Central Committee members were threatened with retaliation if they did not back Carter. In interviews after the meeting, several members disagreed with Davis’ assessment. 

Public Service Commissioner Davante Lewis said there were disagreements within the party leadership about how to handle endorsements, but there were no threats of retaliation. 

Though the state Democratic Party does not endorse judicial candidates, two candidates for a soon-to-be-vacant Louisiana Supreme Court seat stumped for votes. District 2 on the court was redrawn this year to be majority Black. 

Leslie Chambers, a first-time candidate who worked for former Gov. John Bel Edwards and for East Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome, touted her bipartisanship working on criminal justice reforms in the Edwards administration. 

John Michael Guidry, a judge on Louisiana’s First Circuit Court of Appeals, is also running for the high court seat. He also noted his record of bipartisanship, touting endorsements from labor groups and EAST PAC, a political action committee affiliated with the conservative Louisiana Association of Business and Industry that frequently stymies Democratic priorities in the Legislature. 

A third Democrat in the race, Marcus Hunter, was not present. 

Elections for Congress, Public Service Commission and the Louisiana Supreme Court will be held Nov. 5. If no candidate receives a majority of votes, the two top vote-getters will meet in a Dec. 7 runoff. 

All of Louisiana’s Republican incumbents in Congress, except for U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, will face Democratic opposition.