By james art The future of our country seems to hang in the balance as we count down to election day. Locally, however, this campaign season hasn’t made much of a splash.
Despite Louisiana’s taste for electoral intrigue, only East Baton Rouge’s suddenly heated mayoral-presidential primary between incumbent Sharon West Broome, fellow Democrat Ted James and a handful of others has secured it this year.
There is no drama here about the presidential result; candidates haven’t bothered to campaign for or even claim Louisiana’s electoral votes in the two decades since the state migrated from the swing state category to the reliably Republican slate.
We already elected a new governor a year ago. There is no seat in the Senate up for grabs.
And all the House maneuvering happened during redistricting, when a combination of voting rights litigation and some pretty personal politics cost U.S. Rep. Garrett Graves, R-Baton Rouge, five terms, a district he could to win. Although the redistricting made Graves’ old Republican district a Democratic stronghold and changed the boundaries for other members, all the other incumbents plus the former U.S. representative running the redrawn 6th District, state Sen. Cleo Fields, are overwhelming favorites.
But once the votes are counted on November 5th – and we fervently hope it goes smoothly and without attempts to overturn the will of the voters – things will actually heat up.
In New Orleans, expect at least some candidates to replace term-limited, scandal-plagued Mayor LaToya Cantrell, who will be out of office by the end of the year, well ahead of the Oct. 11, 2025 primary election. Likely and possible contenders at this point include the chairman of City Councilwoman Helena Moreno, her fellow councilwoman Oliver Thomas, former Criminal District Court Judge Arthur Hunter and possibly state Sen. Royce Duplessis.
The mayoral race will be the highlight of the season, but a sheriff battle royale could also be in the works. Incumbent Susan Hutson is expected to face at least one aggressive challenge from any or all of the following: former interim New Orleans Police Chief Michelle Woodfork, who now works for District Attorney Jason Williams; Second District Court Constable Edwin Shorty Jr. and even possibly former Sheriff Marlin Guzman, who lost to Hutson in 2021.
Also on the ballot will be all seven City Council seats, including the at-large position that Moreno will vacate after two terms, as well as the races for investigator, coroner and clerk of court.
And voters across the state will soon see early signs of what is sure to be an upset 2026 Senate race.
U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy is expected to run for a third term, and while Republicans are usually easily elected, Cassidy will face what is essentially a new normal.
On the one hand, he was censured by the state Republican Party after voting to impeach Donald Trump for inciting the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol; Cassidy was also the only Louisiana Republican to vote outright to certify Trump’s repeatedly confirmed loss to Joe Biden in 2020.
Additionally, the 2026 election will be the first held under new rules that Gov. Jeff Landry pushed through the Legislature earlier this year, which would force Cassidy to survive the GOP primary to reach a general election against a democrat.
Columnist Stephanie Grace
Landry didn’t get the full party primaries he wanted, but even the compromise that was passed — allowing voters who aren’t registered with a political party to vote in any party primary — is a challenge for Cassidy. That’s because MAGA voters will be very well represented in the primary electorate, and a number of pro-Trump politicians are rumored to be considering running against him, including Treasurer John Fleming of Minden, U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins of Lafayette and Commissioner public services Eric Skarmetta of Metairie.
Still, Cassidy of Baton Rouge has a lot that can help him survive. His voting record is reliable for Republicans, but he has also worked across the aisle on major initiatives like the giant infrastructure bill that is bringing visible investment to the state. Some Republican voters, and probably many of those people who are not partisan, will not base their decision entirely on Trump, whether he is president or not. If the Senate goes Republican in this election, Cassidy will spend the next two years as chairman of the committee that oversees health care, education, labor and pensions, so he’ll have the chance to make an even bigger legislative footprint.
Also, new reports show he now has $5.8 million, a state record for a sitting president at this point in the cycle.
So he’s clearly ready to rumble — whether we will be or not once November 5th finally rolls around.