The Bayou Progressive

Independent Louisiana journalism.
Troublemaking truthtellers.

The Latest
The Bayou Progressive

Baton Rouge

Stories tagged Baton Rouge.

Latest coverage

34 published stories · Page 1
Elections

7 Takeaways From the 6th District Debate: An Empty Podium, a Republican Front-Runner and Three Competing Democratic Visions

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…

Elections

With 10 Candidates and No Clear Lane, Louisiana’s Redrawn 6th Looks Headed for a Runoff

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 Government

Louisiana Leaders Mourn State Sen. Larry Selders After Sudden Death at 44

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…

Art & Culture

Sadie Roberts-Joseph’s Museum Reopened on Juneteenth. A Day Later, Artifacts Were Stolen.

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,…

Elections

Outside Governor’s Mansion, Baton Rouge Rally Urges Voters to Turn Protest Into Power

Hosted by the Louisiana Mobilization Collective and Indivisible Baton Rouge, the Sunday rally connected redistricting, immigration, recall organizing and the June 27 election under one message: show up. Outside the Governor’s Mansion on Sunday afternoon, a coalition of Baton Rouge organizers, students, faith leaders and voting rights advocates gathered with a message that was aimed…

Elections

Landry Signs New Congressional Map, Leaving Louisiana With One Majority-Black District

Gov. Jeff Landry has signed Louisiana’s newest congressional map into law, locking in another dramatic rewrite of the state’s U.S. House districts after years of litigation, court orders, legislative reversals and voter confusion. Under the newly signed law, Louisiana Republicans have likely drawn themselves a 5-1 congressional map unless courts intervene quickly. That intervention is…

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

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

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…

Law & Justice

Federal Judge Blocks Landry-Backed Law Targeting Calvin Duncan’s Clerk Seat

A federal judge on Sunday blocked Louisiana from enforcing a new state law that would have abolished the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court clerk’s office one day before Calvin Duncan was set to assume the post voters elected him to fill. The ruling clears the way, at least temporarily, for Duncan to take office Monday…

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

Tania Nyman pitches LA-5 voters on a ‘Newer Deal Democrat’ vision rooted in public schools, public services and democratic control

Democratic congressional candidate Tania Nyman is not running as a generic issue-sheet progressive. In an interview with The Bayou Progressive, Nyman framed her candidacy in Louisiana’s 5th Congressional District as an extension of years of advocacy around public schools, fair maps, democratic accountability and the preservation of public institutions she argues are steadily being hollowed…

Local Government

BREC backs off immediate push to close several Baton Rouge parks after public backlash

The Recreation and Park Commission for the Parish of East Baton Rouge (or “BREC”)’s effort to declare multiple Baton Rouge parks “obsolete” and move them toward sale hit serious resistance this week after residents and local officials blasted the process as rushed, opaque, and disconnected from the communities most affected. The controversy centers on a…

Policy 101

2026 Legislative Session Preview: What’s Actually on the Line When Lawmakers Gavel In

When the Louisiana Legislature gavels in at noon on Monday, March 9, lawmakers will face a crowded slate of prefiled bills that signal where the real policy fights are likely to emerge this spring. With constitutional limits this year preventing the creation of new taxes or increases to existing ones, the focus shifts to other…

Policy 101

The Louisiana Legislature Convenes March 9. Here’s How Power Moves at the Capitol.

At noon on Monday, March 9, lawmakers will gavel in the 2026 Regular Session. They have until June 1 to pass laws, shape state policy, and decide what problems are worth solving — and which ones aren’t. On paper, it’s a 60-day legislative session inside an 85-day window . In reality, it’s a tightly choreographed…

Elections

Lone Democrat Faces Voters as GOP Rivals Skip District 69 Forum

In the race to fill Louisiana’s House District 69 seat, voters were promised a comprehensive look at their future representative. But when the microphones went live on Thursday night, only one candidate was in the room to make her case. Hosted by the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison Reform Coalition, The Bayou Progressive, the Louisiana…

Local Government

When Industry Calls Science “Misinformation”

When the CEO of the Louisiana Chemical Association took the Rotary Club podium Wednesday to complain about “misinformation” in discussions of industry health impacts, he stepped so far into cognitive dissonance that it might now qualify as public art. David Cresson’s defense of the petrochemical industry — the dominant economic engine in the Mississippi River…