Louisiana

Julia Letlow beat Democrat Jamie Davis for the open Senate seat, 745,963 votes to 720,106, WWNO reported.¹ November 3 did not settle everything. The secretary of state’s calendar lists it as the Senate general election and the first round of an open primary for the U.S. House and local offices; a House or local race not settled in the first round goes to the open general election on Saturday, December 12.^{2, 3} Republicans won three of the six House seats in the first round and Democrats one, with Troy A. Carter, Sr. keeping the 2nd District.⁴ Republicans also won both open seats on the Public Service Commission, Stephanie Hilferty in District 1 by 31.1 points and John E. Atkins in District 5 by 18.3.⁵ Our count, like MultiState’s table, marks District 5 as a seat taken from the Democrats.⁶

Letlow’s margin was 20.2 points narrower than Trump’s two years earlier. Davis drew 94 votes for every 100 Kamala Harris won in Louisiana, and Letlow drew 62 for every 100 of Trump’s. The votes counted come to 106% of the 2022 total and 73% of the 2024 presidential vote.

The move was close to even across the state. The Baton Rouge area moved furthest, 22.1 points, and changed sides, from R+14.8 to D+7.3; it casts 20% of the vote. The Shreveport area moved least, 14.9 points, and that took it to a near tie, D+0.5, from R+14.4. The New Orleans area went from D+16.9 to D+35.9. The small towns and rural parishes, with 15% of the vote, went from R+40.0 to R+20.6.

Of the eight parishes that voted for Trump in 2024 and for Davis this year, Jefferson Parish, in the New Orleans metro area, is the largest. It went from R+13.0 to D+7.4 on 130,879 votes, nearly as many as Orleans Parish, also in the New Orleans area, which was already D+67.0 and moved 10.2 points. The biggest moves came in parishes Letlow still carried. Ascension Parish, in the Baton Rouge area, went from R+33.9 to R+8.9. No parish moved toward the Republicans.

Control of state government was not on the ballot. The constitution elects the governor and the other statewide officials for four years at the same time as the Legislature, and the secretary of state’s calendar puts the next gubernatorial primary on October 9, 2027 and the general on November 20.^{7, 8} Republicans keep the governor’s office and both chambers. Our count has the House at 72 Republicans and 33 Democrats and the Senate at 28 to 10. A special primary for the 14th Senate District is set for December 12, with a special general on January 9, 2027.^{2, 8} A veto is overridden by two-thirds of the elected members of each house, 70 representatives and 26 senators, and Republicans hold more than that in both.⁹

The Legislature redraws its own districts by the end of the year after each census is reported, and if it fails the state Supreme Court does it on the petition of any elector.¹⁰ A map passed as a bill can be vetoed by the governor, subject to the same two-thirds override.⁹ WAFB reports the 6th District was redrawn in May 2026 and that its Democratic incumbent, Cleo Fields, did not run in the new district.⁴ Elections are run by the secretary of state, the chief election officer under the constitution, who is elected statewide with the governor. Nancy Landry was elected to the office in November 2023, and it was not on this ballot.^{7, 11, 12}

A constitutional amendment passes with a majority of those voting on it, and one that directly affects five or fewer parishes also needs a majority in each of them.¹³ Voters passed seven of ten amendments, WAFB reported.¹⁴ Amendment 4, which passed with 55.9% in our count, bars anyone who has served at least one and a half terms as governor from being elected governor again; WAFB reports it keeps former governors John Bel Edwards and Bobby Jindal from seeking a third term. Amendment 3, at 67.8%, removes judges’ authority to grant bail after conviction to people convicted of aggravated offenses against minors. Amendment 8, at 62.1%, prohibits expropriation of property by any country deemed a foreign adversary of the United States, and Amendment 7 allows public money to replace lead water lines, including on private property.¹⁴

Three property tax measures passed: Amendment 1 lets the surviving spouse of a disabled veteran move the exemption once to a new home, Amendment 6 lets cities and parishes grant more relief to people 65 and older, and Amendment 9 raises the income limit for the assessment freeze to below $150,000. Three failed. Amendment 2, which would have let taxing bodies keep a lower millage rate after reassessment, drew 42.0%; voters had rejected a similar measure in 2022. Amendment 5, on using one-time money for retirement system debt, drew 37.6%, and Amendment 10, a tax exemption for rehabilitated blighted property, 46.8%.¹⁴

In East Baton Rouge Parish, District Attorney Hillar Moore III, first elected in 2008, won another six-year term over Ryan Thompson, 58% to 42% on unofficial returns, in what WAFB called the first contested race for the office in nearly two decades; both are Democrats.¹⁵ On the state school board, Republican Joseph Cao, whom Gov. Jeff Landry had appointed earlier in 2026, kept his seat with 63% over Democrat Angela Hershey.¹⁶ In Shreveport, record turnout sent Mayor Tom Arceneaux and Caddo Parish Commissioner Stormy Gage-Watts to a December runoff, KSLA reported.¹⁷

Republicans won again in five of the offices in our count that they held, and the Senate seat was the only close one. Steve Scalise, Clay Higgins and Mike Johnson won their House districts outright, by 26.8, 34.1 and 35.5 points; Johnson’s margin was wider than Trump’s 33.7 in his district. Letlow carried 49 parishes, and the small towns and rural parishes stayed Republican by 20.6 points.

John Kennedy’s Senate seat will be on the ballot in 2028, in a state that voted R+22.0 for president in 2024 and R+1.8 in this year’s Senate race. The governor’s office, the other statewide offices and the Legislature will be on the ballot first, in the fall of 2027, under the new limit on governors’ terms.^{7, 8, 14} Davis told supporters on election night, “Jeff Landry, you’re on notice, buddy,” and WAFB reported that he hinted at a run for governor in 2027.¹⁸

Two U.S. House seats are decided on December 12, with early voting from November 28 to December 5.^{2, 4} In the 5th District, which Republicans hold, Democrat Patricia “Pat” Moore led a nine-candidate field with 17.9% and faces Republican Gabe Firment, who had 17.2%. In the 6th, which Democrats hold, Democrat Chauna Banks led Republican Blake Miguez, 19.4% to 19.2%, and a second Republican missed the runoff by 972 votes.⁴