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The Bayou Progressive

The election desk

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Elections

Nick Albares Ends U.S. Senate Campaign After Louisiana Democratic Primary

Nick Albares has ended his campaign for U.S. Senate, effectively clearing the way for a Democratic runoff between Jamie Davis and Gary Crockett after a primary that exposed just how different Louisiana’s closed Democratic electorate looks from the version many campaigns seemed to be targeting. In a Tuesday statement, Albares said that although votes are…

Elections

Louisiana Voters Reject St. George School District Amendment, Blocking a Dangerous New Chapter in Public School Secession

Louisiana voters on Saturday rejected the proposed constitutional amendment that would have cleared the way for the City of St. George to form its own public school system, delivering a decisive statewide rebuke to one of the most consequential school-secession efforts in modern Louisiana politics. With all precincts reporting in unofficial returns from the Louisiana…

Elections

Louisiana Republicans Cancel The Primary, Void The Votes, Then Advance A Map To Add A GOP Seat

Louisiana’s congressional election chaos is no longer theoretical. It is now moving through the Legislature. The Louisiana Senate voted Thursday to advance a Republican-backed congressional map that would likely return the state to a 5-1 Republican congressional delegation, eliminating one of Louisiana’s two majority-Black congressional districts after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the current…

Elections

Garcia, Nyman And Fleenor Make Their Case In Baton Rouge As 5th District Race Remains In Legal Limbo

Three Democratic candidates for Louisiana’s 5th Congressional District met in Baton Rouge Saturday night for a debate-style forum shaped by one of the most chaotic congressional election fights in modern Louisiana politics. Lindsay “Rubia” Garcia, Tania Nyman and Jessee Fleenor answered questions on voting rights, civil rights, immigration, labor, criminal justice reform, rural infrastructure, agriculture,…

Elections

Albares, Crockett Make Baton Rouge Pitch In U.S. Senate Forum

The final scheduled stop of the To The People, For The People 2026 Democratic Roadshow opened Saturday night with a smaller-than-expected U.S. Senate forum, as Nick Albares and Gary Crockett made their case to Democratic voters while Jamie Davis, the party-endorsed candidate in the race, did not attend. The forum, held at the Unitarian Church…

Elections

Hammond Roadshow Forum Highlights Voting Rights, Health Care and Candidate Contrasts Ahead of May 16 Primary

The “To The People, For The People” 2026 Democratic Roadshow made its Hammond stop Wednesday night, bringing candidates for U.S. Senate and Congress to Reimer’s Auditorium for a forum shaped by voting-rights uncertainty, affordability, immigration, reproductive freedom, LGBTQ+ protections and environmental accountability. The forum featured U.S. Senate candidates Nick Albares and Gary Crockett, 1st Congressional…

Elections

After Supreme Court Order, Garcia-Led Lawsuit Becomes Fight Over Whether Louisiana Can Cancel an Election Already Underway

The legal fight over Louisiana’s suspended congressional primaries changed Monday night, but it did not end. The U.S. Supreme Court issued an order allowing its ruling in Louisiana v. Callais to take effect immediately, giving Gov. Jeff Landry and Republican lawmakers a stronger procedural argument as they rush to redraw Louisiana’s congressional districts before this…

Elections

With Early Voting Underway, Democratic Candidates Make Their Case in Lake Charles

As early voting opened Saturday for Louisiana’s May 16 Democratic primaries, Democratic candidates for Congress and U.S. Senate gathered at Stellar Beans Coffee House in Lake Charles for the latest stop on the To The People, For The People 2026 Democratic Roadshow. The timing gave the forum an added urgency. The event came days after…

Elections

At Rain-Soaked Houma Stop, Democrats Keep Campaigning as Louisiana’s Election Fight Looms

The 2026 Democratic Roadshow stopped in Houma on Friday afternoon with two things hanging over the event: rain clouds and the unresolved political chaos surrounding Louisiana’s May 16 congressional elections. Held at Downtown Jeaux’s and moderated by Bonnie Byland of Indivisible Acadiana, the forum featured U.S. Senate candidates Nick Albares and Gary Crockett, with Jamie…

Elections

Gary Chambers Endorses Rubia Garcia in Louisiana’s 5th District Race

Lindsay “Rubia” Garcia picked up a high-profile progressive endorsement this week from Baton Rouge activist and former U.S. Senate candidate Gary Chambers Jr., giving her campaign a fresh burst of visibility as Louisiana’s congressional elections remain caught in legal and political uncertainty. Garcia’s campaign announced the endorsement in a social media post featuring Chambers alongside…

Elections

At Monroe Forum, Democrats Confront Landry’s Attempt To Halt House Elections Already Underway

The candidates came to the Harvey H. Benoit Community Center on Thursday night to talk about rural hospitals, data centers, wages, infrastructure, agriculture and the grinding affordability pressures facing Northeast Louisiana. But before the forum could fully settle into policy, the central question of the night was already hanging over the room: Would voters actually…

Elections

New Emerson poll shows Louisiana GOP Senate primary stuck in three-way fight, with Cassidy still trying to survive his own party

A new Emerson College Polling/KLFY News 10 survey, sponsored by KLFY/Nexstar Media, shows Louisiana’s Republican U.S. Senate primary locked in a tight three-way fight, with state Treasurer John Fleming narrowly leading U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow and incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy running third. The survey was conducted April 24-26 among 500 likely Republican primary voters….

Elections

John Bel Edwards Backs Nick Albares Ahead of May 16 Primary

Former Gov. John Bel Edwards endorsed Nick Albares on Tuesday in Louisiana’s Democratic U.S. Senate primary, giving Albares his most significant late boost less than three weeks before voters choose the party’s nominee. The endorsement lands at a consequential point in the race: after the Democratic candidates’ first major debate, with early voting approaching and…

Elections

In Louisiana’s Senate Primary, the Debate Was Over the Messenger

At Southern University on Tuesday night, Louisiana’s three Democratic U.S. Senate candidates offered less of an ideological clash than three different arguments about what kind of Democrat can still compete statewide in a deeply red state. Nick Albares, Gary Crockett and Jamie Davis shared broad agreement on much of the Democratic policy baseline – protecting…

Elections

Louisiana Democrats Raise Real Money in Q1. Republicans Still Own the Battlefield.

For a party that has spent years struggling to build credible federal campaigns in Louisiana, the first-quarter fundraising reports offered something Democrats do not always get in this state: signs of life. Several Democratic candidates posted respectable numbers in reports covering Jan. 1 through March 31, enough to show that there is still donor interest,…

Elections

Former Rep. Charlie Melancon endorses Nick Albares for U.S. Senate

Former U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon has endorsed Nick Albares in Louisiana’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, giving Albares the support of a former congressman and past statewide Democratic nominee as the May 16 primary approaches. Melancon announced his endorsement in a campaign press release, praising Albares’ work on healthcare and framing him as a candidate…

Elections

Rev. Larry Foy says faith without policy is not enough

Rev. Larry Foy is running for Congress with an argument Louisiana voters do not hear very often from a candidate shaped by the church: faith is not a detour from progressive politics. It is what brought him there. For Foy, a Democrat running in Louisiana’s 5th Congressional District, the through line from ministry to public…