Tania Nyman, a veteran community advocate known for her fierce battles over local public schools and city governance, has officially launched her campaign for the Democratic nomination in Louisiana’s 5th Congressional District.
Speaking to a crowd of supporters at the Mid City Ballroom in Baton Rouge, Nyman framed her candidacy as a necessary escalation of her 14-year fight for a healthy democracy at the local level.
“The news is bleak, not just bleak, terrifying,” Nyman told the crowd, citing weekly crises. “We all know we are at risk of losing our democracy. We need people in Congress who will fight to save it.”
A Platform Focused on Democracy and Public Goods
Nyman’s platform centers heavily on defending constitutional rights, protecting election integrity, securing voter access, and overturning Citizens United. She stated that these democratic safeguards, along with the protection of public education, must be the guiding principles because “without those, we can’t fight for the other stuff.”
Beyond democratic reforms, Nyman voiced support for implementing fair wages, ensuring billionaires “pay their fair share” in taxes, protecting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, and ultimately enacting genuine universal healthcare.
A Resume Forged in Local Battles
Nyman built her political resume in Baton Rouge through grassroots organizing against initiatives she argued would undermine public institutions and democratic control. She highlighted a long list of local battles, including her opposition to the breakaway city of St. George and the creation of a breakaway school district. She also fought against Senate Bill 636— which she claimed would have “surreptitiously privatized our entire school district” — and opposed Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sid Edwards‘ THRIVE plan to protect dedicated funding for the public library.
Nyman was introduced at the kickoff event by local organizer Kaitlyn Joshua, who praised the candidate as a “role model” and part of a “dynamic trio” that championed equity in East Baton Rouge schools. Joshua specifically credited Nyman with seeing the dangers in proposed Plan of Government amendments and organizing the community to successfully defeat them at the Metro Council. Nyman echoed this, noting her consistent fight for fair school board maps and against the 2014 downsizing of the school board.
Building a Grassroots Infrastructure
Nyman stressed the need for a grassroots campaign to secure the Democratic nomination on May 16th and win the general election in November. While noting she provided “not insubstantial” seed funds to get the campaign off the ground, she appealed directly to the crowd for small-dollar donations, door-knockers, text bankers, and volunteers.
“I am not rich enough to self-fund this campaign. And even if I were, I shouldn’t be expected to do this. That is not a healthy democracy,” Nyman said.
Nyman emphasized that her campaign is about long-term political change in Louisiana, telling her supporters that the effort will be a victory regardless of the final vote tally.
“This campaign will be a win because we are going to begin to build the infrastructure we need to elect candidates who genuinely want to serve the people,” Nyman said. “People who won’t need to ingratiate themselves to the rich and powerful in order to get elected.”