BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Democrat Cleo Fields wins the recently redrawn Louisiana state House election in the black-majority 2nd District, flipping a once-certain Republican seat to blue. I flipped it over.
His victory was a major victory for the Democratic Party, gaining two seats for the first time in 10 years. It’s the second time in nearly 50 years that a Democrat has won Louisiana’s 6th Congressional District, where lawmakers drew new political boundaries earlier this year.
Mr. Fields’ victory returned him to the House of Representatives, where he was elected in 1992 and served two terms. Since then, the 61-year-old state senator has become an integral part of Louisiana politics.
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Under Louisiana’s open primary system, in which candidates from all parties are listed on the ballot on Election Day, Fields was able to avoid a runoff with more than 50% of the vote. He faced four other candidates, including Elbert Guillory, an 80-year-old Republican and former state senator. Incumbent Republican Congressman Garrett Graves was not seeking re-election.
New congressional maps were used for the election, with boundaries drawn by the Republican-controlled Legislature earlier this year. The map restores the state’s second-most majority black district and is a victory for Democrats and civil rights groups after nearly two years of legal and political battles.
The boundaries of the new District 6 stretch across the state in a narrow, diagonal path from the state capital, Baton Rouge, to Shreveport in the northwest corner. Black residents made up 54% of voters, up from 24% previously. Fields is black.
A lower court ruled that the new map was an illegal racial gerrymander, but the Supreme Court in May ordered Louisiana to use the map in this year’s legislative elections, with Democrats in a close race. The possibility of gaining a majority in the House of Representatives has increased.
In addition to contesting the 6th District, all five current members of the Louisiana General Assembly are up for re-election, including Speaker Mike Johnson and House Minority Leader Steve Scalise.
