Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District House Race

Louisiana's open primary election takes place Tuesday, Nov. 3, with early voting held Oct. 20-27. The ballot features a crowded U.S. Senate race to replace Rep. Julia Letlow, who is stepping down after President Trump's endorsement, pitting her against Democrat Jamie Davis. Several U.S. House races are also at stake, including incumbents Steve Scalise, Troy Carter, and Clay Higgins, plus a wide-open contest for Letlow's 5th District seat and the newly redrawn, majority-white 6th District vacated by Cleo Fields.

Down-ballot contests include the influential Public Service Commissioner District 1 seat, St. Tammany Parish sheriff (following ex-Sheriff Randy Smith's guilty plea in an assault case), Plaquemines Parish president, and Bogalusa mayor, where incumbent Tyrin Truong faces criminal charges. Races without a majority winner will proceed to a December runoff, a likely outcome in several multi-candidate congressional and local contests.

U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, D-La., is heavily favored to win a third full term representing his New Orleans-to-Baton Rouge district on Nov. 3, facing token opposition from four little-funded challengers, including Republican Peter Williams. Carter, who is running unopposed to become the next chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, says the post will position him prominently ahead of the next presidential race, arguing "all roads to the White House will go through the South." He criticized House Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise, both Louisiana Republicans, for backing Trump-era Medicaid cuts he says will hurt their own constituents. Carter expects Democrats to retake the House majority, giving him a larger platform to push back on Medicaid cuts and ICE enforcement tactics.

Multiple Louisiana political figures are signaling possible interest in the 2028 presidential race. Former New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial, now head of the National Urban League, told an Oct. 3 panel at the March On! Festival that he is "thinking about running." He appeared alongside former U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, who encouraged him, and her brother, former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, who has said since April he will decide after the midterms or early next year. U.S. Sen. John Kennedy also raised the possibility on NBC's "Meet the Press," suggesting he could do better than other potential contenders.

None of the three has formed a campaign team, PAC, or fundraising operation, but Kennedy and Landrieu have both published bestselling books and are actively campaigning for allies nationally. Louisiana has never produced a sitting-president nominee with strong local roots; past bids by Buddy Roemer and Bobby Jindal fizzled early. The 2028 field remains wide open on both sides, with JD Vance, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz atop GOP speculation, and Democrats awaiting word from Kamala Harris.

Jamie Davis, a 56-year-old farmer from Waterproof, Louisiana, is running as the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate against Republican incumbent Rep. Julia Letlow, who has backing from President Trump and Gov. Jeff Landry. Louisiana is considered solidly Republican and voted 60% for Trump in 2024, but a July Public Policy Polling survey showed Davis trailing Letlow by only four points, with 22% of voters undecided. If elected, Davis would be Louisiana's first Democratic senator since 2014 and its first Black senator since Reconstruction.

Davis, a farm operator and former parish police juror, has built his campaign around affordability, citing rising fuel, insurance and grocery costs. He has also criticized Letlow over a reported nondisclosure agreement with Meta and delayed stock disclosures tied to a Richland Parish data center project. Despite being outraised roughly three-to-one, Davis says his campaign is emphasizing grassroots organizing, with thousands of volunteers and paid organizers, to boost turnout ahead of the election in a race forecasters still favor Republicans to win.

St. Tammany Parish voters head to the polls Nov. 3 to elect a new sheriff for the first time in over 30 years without Jack Strain or Randy Smith on the ballot, filling the remaining 18 months of Smith's term after his resignation and guilty plea to second-degree battery. Interim Sheriff Bret Ibert will retire once a successor is sworn in this January. Four candidates are running: former Louisiana State Police Superintendent Robert Hodges, retired U.S. Marshal Scott Illing, retired bomb-squad commander David Maki, and former Slidell Police interim chief Daniel Seuzeneau. Each emphasizes transparency, staff morale, and budget fixes. Without a majority winner, a runoff follows Dec. 12.

A New Orleans jail custodian, Sterling Williams, 34, was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison after pleading guilty to malfeasance in office for his role in enabling one of the largest jailbreaks in recent U.S. history. In May 2025, Williams shut off water to a cell, allowing 10 inmates to remove a toilet, crawl through a wall gap and scale a fence to escape, leaving behind graffiti reading "To Easy LoL." His attorney said Williams did not knowingly assist the escape but failed to follow protocol. An additional 2.5 years of his sentence was suspended, with three years of probation to follow; prosecutors dropped 10 counts of being a principal to aggravated escape.

All 10 escapees were recaptured, one after five months at large. They face trial in April. At least 14 others were arrested for aiding the escape, and former Sheriff Susan Hutson and CFO Bianka Brown face separate indictments tied to the jail's management failures; both have pleaded not guilty.

A federal jury has convicted Sean Alfortish, former president of the Louisiana Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association and a Thoroughbred owner and trainer, on charges of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, two counts of mail fraud, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering, U.S. Attorney David I. Courcelle announced. The case centered on a years-long staged-wreck scheme to defraud trucking and insurance companies. Alfortish faces a statutory maximum of 90 years in prison.

The jury deadlocked on charges tied to the murder of Cornelius Garrison III, an FBI cooperating witness, resulting in a mistrial on those counts for Alfortish and codefendant Leon Parker, who previously pleaded guilty to related fraud charges and faces up to 60 years. Alfortish was convicted of obstruction and witness tampering for offering Garrison money and relocation to take the blame, but was acquitted of separate charges alleging he paid a jail inmate to lie under oath. Alfortish had previously served prison time for misusing HBPA funds and rigging an association election.

Essence Festival's multiyear contract with New Orleans expired Friday, leaving its future in the city unresolved. Essence leaders met this week with a steering committee formed by Mayor Helena Moreno to discuss next steps. Organizers want a new "sustainable" multiyear deal with "shared investment," proposing not just the festival but a year-round initiative called Essence 365. Parent company Sundial Media & Technology Group has floated an annual investment of $10 million to $12 million, mostly for the 365 program, though it says that sum was meant to be shared among the state, tourism groups, and regional businesses rather than funded solely by the city.

The city currently contributes $750,000 annually and, amid a fiscal crisis involving furloughs and higher sanitation rates, has called the larger ask unfeasible. Officials also cited concerns over late vendor payments and delayed Superdome performances, and are weighing a competitive bidding process for future festivals. Baltimore's mayor has publicly courted Essence as an alternative host. Both sides describe talks as ongoing with no resolution yet.

The New Orleans City Council voted Aug. 20 to direct $750,000 in funds recovered from New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity toward the Right to Counsel program, which provides free legal representation to residents facing eviction. The money will fund Southeast Louisiana Legal Services through the rest of the year. Advocates, including Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center's Monique Blossom and Jane Place's Y. Frank Southhall, backed the move, citing racial disparities in evictions — more than 85% of those facing eviction in New Orleans are Black, and over 55% are Black women.

The funds stem from the mayor's administration canceling a $2 million deal with Habitat in April after the nonprofit failed to use the money to help homeowners with rising insurance costs. Council Member Eugene Green also criticized Habitat's sale of 32 rental properties, including units in Musicians' Village, to a private Metairie firm that tripled rents for longtime tenants.

Federal prosecutors have unsealed charges against Covington, Louisiana brothers Omar and Abdel Adhami, alleging they used Snapchat, Instagram and WhatsApp to solicit more than $80,000 from followers for Hamas, often posting pro-Hamas imagery. The FBI and NYPD investigation found Abdel Adhami allegedly sent roughly $80,000 via PayPal to associates of Saleem Alzaq, described as his handler in Gaza, between November 2023 and February of this year, while Omar allegedly sent about $6,000. Abdel faces charges of providing material support to a terrorist organization, wire fraud and money laundering; Omar faces material support and wire fraud counts. Alzaq has separately been indicted in Manhattan for raising nearly $1.75 million for Hamas.

In an unrelated state case, the brothers, their wives and another sibling were arrested October 7 on charges of defrauding Louisiana's Medicaid program of more than $224,000 by allegedly underreporting income. All five, arrested earlier at St. Tammany Parish Jail, face state felony theft and benefits fraud charges, to be prosecuted locally alongside the separate federal terrorism case.