Louisiana
Special election underway for Louisiana House District 60 seat
IBERVILLE PARISH, La. (WAFB) – A Democrat and Republican are competing in a special election for Louisiana House District 60, the seat left vacant after Governor Jeff Landry appointed Democrat Chad Brown to Commissioner of Alcohol and Tobacco Control.
Democrat Chasity Martinez, an Iberville Parish Council member, and Republican Brad Daigle, an insurance agent, are seeking to represent the rural district.
“If we want to make things change and make things different, show people politics is not about the old regime and the old way of things, get out and vote,” Martinez said.
Daigle said he wants to focus on common ground.
“I want to be a voice of reason and focus on the 90% of the issues that unite us and leave the 10% to Washington,” Daigle said.
Affordability drives voter concerns
Affordability in the rural parishes is driving voters to the polls this week, with both candidates addressing the issue.
Daigle said his insurance background gives him insight into affordability problems. He emphasized the historic nature of the race.
“No republican has ever occupied this district, so what I’m asking the voters: we have an unprecedented opportunity to flip this seat to a conservative,” Daigle said.
He said joining the Republican supermajority would give the district more influence.
“If I’m in the super majority, we are going to have a seat at the table, we are going to have a loud voice, but the relationships I have built not only help me on the local level, the state level, but also the federal level. I have relationships with every statewide elected official right now and I think I can really deliver for district 60,” Daigle said.
Martinez said she represents frustration with traditional politics in Iberville and Assumption parishes.
“They see promises made and things are not changing, and I tell everybody all the time there is power in numbers — I’m just one person, one council member, but seeing the things that my people deal with on a daily basis at a local level, I want to change that, but it has to be taken to a state level,” Martinez said. We have people that live off of the basin; they make ends meet like that — that is their livelihood, crawfishing, fishing — there are people at the state level making decisions and not taking to those people who live it every day. That’s a problem,” Martinez said.
Both candidates expect voter turnout between 15 to 20 percent in the election. Early voting ends Jan. 31 and election day is Feb. 7.
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Louisiana
After redistricting battles, Southern gathers for Juneteenth celebration: ‘Continue the fight’
Hundreds of community members, alumni and students gathered Thursday to observe Juneteenth on the Southern University campus in Baton Rouge.
The theme of the festivities was “celebrating freedom through culture and community,” but weeks after Louisiana’s bitter redistricting battles, the speakers Thursday morning had one message driving their remarks: Get out and vote.
“Freedom does not come in on the wheels of inevitability,” Louisiana Supreme Court Associate Justice John Michael Guidry said to the crowd. “But it takes the prodigious work and the tireless efforts of those who are willing to continue the fight.”
Great Beginnings summer camper Myni, 4, gets a hello kitty face painting during Southern’s Juneteenth celebration on Thursday, June 18, 2026 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Staff photo by Michael Johnson
The speech kicked off a day of discussions and cultural events centered on the holiday of Juneteenth, which commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union Gen. Gordon Granger brought news of emancipation to enslaved people in Texas more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued.
Speakers at Southern emphasized the need for protection of hard-won rights for Black Americans in the context of redistricting. The sentiments followed a contentious state legislative session that ended with the elimination of one of Louisiana’s two majority-Black congressional districts after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais.
“That Voting Rights Act is under attack,” Guidry said. “There’s voter intimidation, there’s voter suppression, there are voter ID laws and all types of laws and legal decisions that are trying to deny us our right to vote, and we are the ones who have to go forward and litigate these issues.”
The day opened with a libation ceremony and a rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” by Southern University student Claire Floyd.
Southern University alumnus Jeanet Cazenave said she felt it was important to celebrate Juneteenth on campus as not only a relative of the first dean of Southern University but also a descendant of the GU272, a group of enslaved individuals who were sold to plantations in Louisiana in 1838 by Jesuit priests to pay the debts of what is now Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
Juneteenth “means everything,” Cazenave said. “It means the past, the present and the future.”
BATON ROUGE, La. (KLFY) — Governor Landry has officially declared Louisiana under state of emergency.
The state emergency declaration covers Avoyelles, Lafourche, Pointe Coupee, St. Landry, St. Tammany and Terrebonne parishes.
The declaration was issued Thursday following the impacts of Tropical Storm Arthur, which brough rainfall and strong storms to parts of the state on June 17 and 18.
Officials said the National Weather Service has confirmed three tornadoes tied to the storm system.
Officials also reported record or near-record rainfall totals in Avoyelles and Pointe Coupee parishes over a 12-hour period.
The order allows the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness to coordinate resources and provide assistance to local governments if needed.
Certain state purchasing and bidding requirements have been temporarily suspended to speed up emergency response efforts.
The declaration took effect immediately and will remain in place through July 18 unless it is lifted or extended.
State officials are urging residents to stay weather aware, avoid flooded roadways and follow guidance from local emergency managers.
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