Louisiana Illuminator illustration
Almost three decades after redistricting forced him out of the U.S. House of Representatives, Cleo Fields will return to Washington, D.C. He claimed an outright win Tuesday in the newly redrawn 6th Congressional District that favored a Black Democrat.
Fields, who currently represents a Baton Rouge district in the Louisiana Senate, parlayed his strong name recognition and prior political experience to win over Republican Elbert Guillory and Democrats Quentin Anthony Anderson, Wilken Jones Jr. and Peter Williams.
With 100% of the vote counted, Fields polled 51% support to avoid a runoff next month.
Although the race failed to draw much national attention, the addition of another Democrat could play into the fight for party control in the House, where Louisiana lost a Republican seat.
“I’ve been called a lot of things in this election, but tonight they can call me congressman,” Fields told supporters at his Baton Rouge election night gathering.
An attorney who earned his bachelor’s and law degrees from Southern University, Fields previously held the 4th Congressional District seat from 1993 to 1997. His exit was forced a year earlier when his district was redrawn into a northwest Louisiana-based seat that favored a Republican candidate.
His time in Congress fell among three separate stints in the state Senate, his first starting in 1988. In between, Fields ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1995 and the state Public Service Commission in 2004.
A path to return to Congress was laid out for Fields in January when the GOP-dominated Louisiana Legislature ended a two-year court battle by approving a congressional map with a second majority-Black district among its six seats in the U.S. House. The update, required every 10 years to account for Census changes, showed Black residents accounted for a third of Louisiana residents.
State lawmakers had initially attempted to keep five Republican representatives, but a federal judge rejected that map. Soon after he took office in January, Republican Gov. Jeff Landry directed the Legislature to approve a second Black district.
Having to sacrifice a fellow GOP member, the governor targeted Congressman Garret Graves of Baton Rouge, the second-longest serving member of the Louisiana delegation behind House Majority Leader Steve Scalise. Graves had endorsed his longtime friend, Stephen Waguespack, in the 2023 governor’s race that Landry won outright in the primary.
However, the 6th District seat isn’t necessarily secure for Fields long term.
A group of white voters in the new district has challenged its boundaries, arguing it was illegally gerrymandered based on race. A three-judge review panel ruled in their favor, but the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately allowed Louisiana to use the latest congressional map for this year’s election while the case plays out. Justices are expected to consider the case early next year.
With incumbent U.S. Rep. Troy Carter of New Orleans winning his 2nd District race, Fields will give Louisiana two Democrats in the House for the first time since 2011 when Charlie Melancon represented the 3rd District.
– Piper Hutchinson contributed to this report.
