As their national Convention enters the final stretch, Louisiana Democrats are preparing to double their footprint in the Bayou State delegation & the Congressional Black Caucus

CHICAGO — Before heading to the floor during the first few days of this Democratic Convention, state Sens. Gary Carter and Ed Price would often have lunch together in their hotel. They shared stories about family and golf and the politics of the upper chamber in Baton Rouge when not networking or catching up with familiar faces.

Carter, a delegate, and Price, a credentialed guest of the state party, have unique perspectives on the transition Democrats are facing in Louisiana. If all goes as expected this cycle, the next term will host a second Louisiana Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives, due to redistricting. The change in the 6th Congressional District, anchored by Baton Rouge, would also likely give the state its second membership in the Congressional Black Caucus.

Price has been an elected official for more than 40 years, kicking off his service roughly a decade before William Jefferson was elected in 1990 as the first Black congressman since Reconstruction. During that stretch of time, Louisiana had eight seats in the House. Price and other politicos could only watch in the following years as seats disappeared alongside population, until the 2010 Census left the congressional delegation with just six members.

In 2016, Carter was elected for the first time to the state Legislature. He had an enviable viewpoint to watch his uncle, Congressman Troy Carter of New Orleans, make his way from the state Senate to the 2nd Congressional District in 2021. Since then, Troy Carter has been Louisiana’s lone Black voice (and lone Democratic voice) in the delegation. Today, he’s also second vice chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Among many others, consultant Telley Madina of New Orleans, the president of Madina Group Consulting, visited with Price and Gary Carter as delegates and others readied themselves for the Convention floor this week. In a later interview, Madina explained that for decades the delegation’s lone Black member has been the only place some Black residents feel they can turn, regardless of their congressional district.

Adding a second member would help spread out the workload, Madina said, but it could also inspire more young people from communities of color to get involved in politics as Democratic professionals. More representation means more opportunities.

New Orleans consultant Ike Spears agreed when asked about the coming shift, saying, “You immediately double the number of congressmen who are fighting for the underserved communities in Louisiana.”

Senate and Governmental Affairs Chair Cleo Fields of Baton Rouge, the heavy favorite in the redrawn 6th Congressional District, said it’s simply time that a third of the delegation reflects the proportion of minority voters in the state. 

“I think that’s going to be good for the delegation, because you’re going to have all voices from Louisiana being represented,” said Fields, a former member of Congress. “So when the six of us take positions, it’s going to be representative of the people we represent.” 

Former state Sen. Elbert Guillory, a Black Republican and the officially endorsed GOP candidate in the 6th, said if he’s elected he would seek membership in the Congressional Black Caucus. (Those dynamics wouldn’t be new. Black Republicans claim they have a fraught history with the Congressional Black Caucus, with some claiming the Caucus ostracized them and others pointedly refusing to join.)

“The people of CD6 should have a voice at every table of power. Obviously, we disagree on many policy issues. I intend to disagree agreeably to make our voice heard at that table,” Guillory said, adding, “Minority voters will see that not all Republicans have tails. Not all Republicans have horns.”

Aside from voting power and increased opportunities for political professionals, an additional Black congressman could help reshape the public dialogue about traditional issues of interest that have suffered from not having louder voices involved, suggested state Rep. Edmond Jordan, who chairs the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus. 

“Issues related to poverty, education, health care and economic prosperity, to name a few, cross racial lines,” said Jordan, “but these are issues that Black Americans have championed for quite some time.”

The politics of the moment are unmissable in Chicago as the Democratic National Convention continues to pull in staffers from the Fields campaign and serve as a gathering grounds for those who stand to benefit from the shift. Today may be the final day of the Convention, but for those taking part in this conversation, today is just the beginning.

Consider again opportunities for political professionals. Albert Samuels, who chairs the political science department at Southern University, wisely noted the related jobs may extend well beyond this congressional cycle — should Fields secure his victory.

That in turn would create an opening in the state Senate. The resulting special election would likely attract multiple Black Democrats, including one or two currently serving in the state House. Should a representative win that Senate seat, yet another special election would be needed in the House. (If just by chance a member of the Baton Rouge Metro Council takes that hypothetically-open House seat, the pattern would continue.)

Plus, a Fields victory would give Democrats a seat in the U.S. House they were not anticipating prior to the last Census. To be certain, Republicans are favored to hold the chamber, but it could always come down to the wire. And as the only House seat that at least one major prognosticator considers a safe Democratic flip, the 6th could be important to the overall math. 

That math is the math. That mantra was heard over and over as lawmakers debated the need to make one-third of Louisiana’s congressional delegation match its population mix. It’s still the mantra as that wish becomes a reality. For Democrats, two is always better than one in political math, whether it means Fields joining Troy Carter in Congress or Price meeting Gary Carter for lunch.

Possibly, that’s the message emerging from the Democratic National Convention today: there’s always strength in numbers.

Author’s note: The third paragraph of this story has been revised to reflect the correct election date of former New Orleans Congressman William Jefferson.