This year’s filing deadline for candidates running for Congress in Louisiana was July 19, 2024.
This is the first election to take place after Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry (R) signed revised congressional maps into law on Jan. 22, 2024. On May 15, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked an April 30 ruling by the U.S. District Court for Western Louisiana, striking down the state’s congressional map. As a result, the map will be used for Louisiana’s 2024 congressional elections.
Twenty-four candidates—10 Democrats, 13 Republicans, and one unaffiliated candidate—are running for Louisiana’s six U.S. House districts. That’s four candidates per district. There were 3.67 candidates per district in 2022, 5.00 candidates per district in 2020, and 4.67 in 2018.
From the findings, the number of candidates running this year is also the second-fewest of any other year in the last 10 years. Twenty-two candidates ran in 2022, the fewest in the last ten years. Between 2014 and 2022, an average of 30.8 candidates ran each election year.
The 6th Congressional District is the only open district as no incumbents filed to run. Between 2022 and 2014, an average of 0.8 primaries were contested yearly. Incumbent Rep. Garret Graves (R-6th) is not running for re-election due to the revised congressional maps. The 1st, 2nd, and 6th Congressional Districts have the highest number of candidates running for a seat in Louisiana this year, with five candidates in each district.
All six primaries were contested this year, while only an average of 5.2 primaries were contested each year between 2022 and 2014. Additionally, five incumbents, including one Democrat and four Republicans, are in contested primaries this year, which is higher than the average of 4.2 incumbents being in contested primaries each year between 2022 and 2014. The 4th Congressional District is guaranteed to Republicans as no Democrats will appear on the ballot. Republicans filed to run in every congressional district, guaranteeing that none are secured for Democrats.
Instead of conducting true primary elections, Louisiana employs a majority-vote system, which Ballotpedia calls the Louisiana majority-vote system. If a candidate receives a majority of the votes cast for an office, he or she wins outright. If no candidate reaches that threshold, a second round of voting is held between the top two vote-getters.
Louisiana’s congressional elections are on November 5. If a second round of voting is needed, it will be held on December 7.
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