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Follow the decisions, people and policies shaping Baton Rouge and Louisiana.
Democrat Lauren Jewett raised at least $423,000 during the third quarter of 2026, according to newly announced campaign totals and previous federal filings, bringing her cumulative fundraising to more than $675,000 in her challenge to House Majority Leader Steve Scalise. The New Orleans special education teacher announced Thursday that her campaign had raised approximately $566,000…
Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Jamie Davis is making his first major move onto Louisiana’s airwaves, launching two new advertisements Wednesday that will run on television, connected TV and digital platforms through Election Day. The statewide campaign marks Davis’ first paid advertising of the election cycle and comes less than three weeks before voters choose between…
Four candidates for Louisiana’s newly redrawn 6th Congressional District took the stage Friday night at Baton Rouge’s Manship Theatre for what was billed as a debate but often felt more like a televised candidate forum. Democrats Chauna Banks, Pat Forbes and Lindsay “Rubia” Garcia were joined by Republican state Sen. Rick Edmonds for the hour-long…
Democratic congressional candidate Pat Forbes announced Thursday that his campaign has raised more than $100,000 from over 2,000 individual donors in its first eight weeks, marking an early fundraising milestone for the former state official ahead of Louisiana’s November 3 election. The figures, which have not yet been independently verified, are expected to be reflected…
Candidates for district judge, Family Court and Justice of the Peace seats made their pitches to Baton Rouge voters Thursday night at a candidate forum hosted by the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice at Living Faith Christian Center. The Oct. 1 event unfolded in two panels, beginning with judicial candidates before turning to candidates…
Pat Forbes does not pretend that three Democrats competing in Louisiana’s newly redrawn 6th Congressional District is an ideal situation. “Obviously, it’s not good for us to have three Democrats in the race,” Forbes told The Bayou Progressive in a wide-ranging interview this week. “But here we are.” The question hanging over Forbes’ candidacy is…
For the better part of 30 minutes Sunday evening, the three Democrats running for Louisiana’s newly redrawn 6th Congressional District did something they had not yet done during this campaign: sit beside one another and explain, in the same room, why each of them believes they should be the Democrat voters send forward. The setting…
For the second time in two months, a poll commissioned by Democrat Jamie Davis’ U.S. Senate campaign shows Republican Julia Letlow leading by just four points. Hart Research Associates found Letlow at 48% and Davis at 44% among 500 likely Louisiana voters surveyed Sept. 17 through 19, with 8% initially undecided. The poll has a…
A Baton Rouge construction company gave $100,000 to a super PAC supporting U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow’s Senate campaign while it was performing work under a federal contract with NASA, according to a new complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission. The Campaign Legal Center alleges MMR Constructors, Inc. violated federal campaign finance law when it…
For Omari Ho-Sang, the political challenge facing North Louisiana is not simply convincing more people to vote in November. It is building the kind of organizing infrastructure that can reach people long before an election, develop local leaders and continue holding public officials accountable after the votes are counted. That work will be at the…
Lauren Jewett knows the odds. The Metairie special education teacher is running for Congress in Louisiana’s 1st Congressional District, a reliably Republican seat represented for the past 18 years by House Majority Leader Steve Scalise. Scalise has more than $10 million flowing through his campaign operation this cycle. Jewett had raised just under $143,000 through…
The Louisiana Public Service Commission sided with Meta this week in a fight over whether the technology giant should have to substantiate the claims being used to justify billions of dollars in new Louisiana power infrastructure. In a 3-1 vote Wednesday, the commission overturned a ruling from Chief Administrative Law Judge Melanie Verzwyvelt that would…
Rep. Julia Letlow had until Thursday to file the annual financial disclosure that should provide Louisiana voters with their clearest accounting yet of her finances during a year already marked by hundreds of previously undisclosed stock and bond transactions. That deadline has passed. As of 3 PM on Friday afternoon, Letlow’s 2025 annual financial disclosure…
A four-point U.S. Senate race in Louisiana would be a political earthquake. Donald Trump carried the state by 22 points less than two years ago. Democrats have not won a Louisiana Senate election since Mary Landrieu’s last victory in 2008. The Cook Political Report continues to classify the seat as Safe Republican, while RealClearPolling’s page…
The number of Louisiana voters classified as inactive more than doubled during a matter of weeks last summer, according to a new analysis from the ACLU of Louisiana that also found the impact fell disproportionately on Black and Democratic voters across nearly every parish in the state. The report, released August 4 and authored by…
Louisiana lawmakers redrew the 6th Congressional District this spring to make it considerably easier for Republicans to win. Qualifying made deciding which Republican — or whether a Democrat can make the runoff — considerably more complicated. Ten candidates qualified for the newly configured district before Friday’s deadline, including two sitting Republican state senators with substantial…
State Sen. Larry Selders, a Baton Rouge Democrat who represented Louisiana’s 14th Senate District, died suddenly Tuesday evening at 44, prompting an outpouring of grief from across Louisiana politics and the Baton Rouge community. The Louisiana Illuminator reported that Selders collapsed while attending his son’s football practice. While no official cause of death had been…
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill was indicted Thursday by an Orleans Parish grand jury on 16 felony counts tied to letters she sent New Orleans officials during the state’s fight over control of the Orleans Parish clerk of court’s office. Murrill is facing eight counts of public intimidation and eight counts of malfeasance in office,…
The resignation comes after a public split between the group’s co-founders, a dispute over a $100,000 donation, and growing questions about whether the statewide recall campaign has the structure needed to survive. Louisiana Deserves Better, the grassroots organization leading recall efforts against Gov. Jeff Landry, Attorney General Liz Murrill, and East Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sid…
Jamie Davis, the Tensas Parish farmer who built his campaign around an outsider message and a call for Democrats to reconnect with working people across Louisiana, has won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate. With all 64 parishes and all 3,722 precincts reporting Saturday night, unofficial results from the Louisiana Secretary of State showed Davis…
Louisiana’s two Democratic members of Congress are lining up behind Jamie Davis in the final days of the Democratic runoff for U.S. Senate, giving Davis a clear show of party support ahead of Saturday’s election. U.S. Rep. Troy A. Carter Sr. publicly endorsed Davis this week, posting that Davis is “the voice we need” in…
Sen. Royce Duplessis was the only senator to vote against Gov. Jeff Landry’s plan to cut $168 million from the state’s public school funding formula to fund teacher and support staff stipends. Louisiana lawmakers have approved Gov. Jeff Landry’s plan to cut $168 million from the state’s public school funding formula and redirect the money…
Former U.S. Senate candidate Nick Albares has endorsed Jamie Davis ahead of Saturday’s runoff election, giving Davis another public show of support from a former primary rival as the campaign enters its final stretch. In a video posted to Instagram, Albares reminded voters that Election Day for the runoff is Saturday, June 27, and said…
Just one day after Baton Rouge gathered to celebrate the reopening of the Baton Rouge African American Museum, the downtown institution was burglarized and two boxes of artifacts collected by the late Sadie Roberts-Joseph were stolen, according to her son and museum curator Jason Roberts. Roberts said the burglary happened sometime after 5 p.m. Saturday,…
