(The Center Square) — The race for Louisiana’s new 6th Congressional District seat has a crowded field for Tuesday’s election.
The second majority Black congressional district in Louisiana was part of new maps signed into law in January 2024 after a federal court order could represent a big win for Democrats who previously had only one district they could lean on.
The new one cuts through the middle of Louisiana and spans from Caddo Parish all the way down to East Baton Rouge.
U.S. Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., currently represents the district in Congress and has since 2015. He elected not to run for reelection given the circumstances.
“After much input from constituents, consultation with supporters, consensus from family, and guidance from the Almighty, it is clear that running for Congress this year does not make sense,” Graves told AP news earlier this year.
That leaves a wide open race with five potential candidates, all of which are Black men and four of them are Democrats. Additionally, the three primary leaders in the race all have a unique approach and background.
A previous story from The Center Square showed Sen. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge, with the fundraising lead. Since that story, his campaign contributions have gone up to over $1 million with $832,000 spent, nearly $800,000 more than that total just a month ago, according to Federal Election Commission data.
According to Fields’ campaign website, his priorities include increasing the federal minimum wage, improving education and improving economic development.
He is also the most experienced, serving three different stints in the Louisiana Senate (1988-1993, 1997-2008 and 2019 to the present) and the U.S. House for two terms from 1993 to 1997.
Although the new district was assumed to be Democrat, the only Republican challenger, Elbert Guillory, didn’t get the memo. He is currently in second for campaign finances with $131,000 raised and $62,000 spent. This is quite the turn considering just a month ago he had no war chest at all.
Guillory served first in the state House and then the Senate, representing his hometown of Opelousas from 2007 to 2016.
According to Guillory’s campaign website, his priorities include public safety, border security, inflation and education. Guillory said he is running to help preserve the Republican majority in the House.
“We cannot risk losing this progress due to political gamesmanship from out of touch special interest groups,” Guillory said on X. “Those same special interests have continued to place our values in the crosshairs while championing some elitists’ extreme agendas.”
Fields’ closest Democrat challenger, Quentin Anderson, is in third with $34,000 received and almost all of it spent.
Anderson is the youngest at 36 and has no political experience. His professional experience includes working as the executive chairman of The Justice Alliance, the director of communications of the Appleseed Network and the chief operating officer of The Black Business Bureau of Baton Rouge.
Anderson’s priorities include public safety, infrastructure, and increasing the federal minimum wage. Anderson told KALB that he believes “it is important that we have representatives that are independent. I mean, I’m a Democrat, but all that means is I have a north star about how I view government working.”
While the two campaign finance leaders have avoided debates, Anderson has been active, including one debate in August in which The Illuminator highlighted the young candidate’s passion for a fresh face in Louisiana politics.
Wilken Jones and Peter Williams are the other Democrats in the race and neither have any campaign cash or websites. Williams also participated in the debate but received little support in the months following.
