WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields will not seek re-election to Congress after the Louisiana Legislature into one that heavily favors Republicans.
Instead, Fields, D-Baton Rouge, said in a news release Tuesday that he will run for the seat in the state Senate that he previously held. His successor to that seat, Sen. Larry Selders, from a heart condition.
“After a great deal of prayer and reflection, I have decided not to seek re-election to Congress, in the 6th District or any other district in Louisiana,” Fields said in a statement Tuesday afternoon. “Instead, I will be running to fill the unexpired term for the State Senate in the 14th District. I feel my calling to serve the people is better put to use back home than here in D.C., and I intend to answer that call.”
Fields made his decision the day after the National Republican Congressional Committee added Louisiana’s Sixth Congressional District to its list of 36 House seats held by Democratic representatives the GOP will target its resources to try to defeat.
The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter, a respected Washington campaign handicapper, put the newly redrawn 6th Congressional District as one five seats presently held by Democrats that have been redistricted to “Solid Republican” for the midterm elections that will determine whether Republicans continue to control the House.
“It gives him an opportunity to still stay in the game, stay on the field and in an arena,” said Randal Gaines, chair of the Louisiana Democratic Party. “He has a strong chance of winning (Fields’ old state Senate seat), as opposed to getting a race he has a chance of winning, but would be much more challenging.”
Republicans nationwide are bracing for the possibility that Democratic candidates win at least 218 of the 435 House seats in the November 3 midterm elections and assume the majority when the next Congress convenes in January.
Fields’ seat at core of redistricting battle
It was Fields’ congressional seat that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled was unconstitutionally composed to favor Black voters.
In their April 29 decision in Callais v Louisiana, a 6-3 high court majority found that the Louisiana Legislature relied too much on race to draw the 6th Congressional District in 2024. The majority ruled that state legislators could gerrymander congressional districts based on political party but not on race.
The 6th District that Fields has represented since January 2025 includes majority-Black precincts from Baton Rouge and Lafayette, up Interstate 49 to Shreveport, with about 55% Black constituents. Legislators drew the districts from which representatives are elected in 2024 to comply with the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Garret Graves, a Baton Rouge Republican, had represented the Sixth District for a decade but declined to run after the Legislature’s 2024 map that gave Black voters a better chance at winning the election. He did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday afternoon.
The high court decision came during a time when Trump was demanding Republican-dominated states redistrict now – the process usually begins after the U.S. Census is completed every 10 years – in order to acquire more House seats with GOP-leaning voters for the November midterms.
District is now solidly GOP
Within hours of the Supreme Court’s decision, Gov. Jeff Landry called on state legislators to redraw the 6th District. The Republican super majority in the Louisiana Legislature redrew the 6th District, drawing its lines closer to Baton Rouge. It is now composed of 61.1% of the voters who backed Trump for president in 2024, with 65.2% of the vote and 66.4% of the vote in 2020.
The Republican supermajority in the Louisiana Legislature approved the new 6th District, which curls around the majority-Black 2nd Congressional District along the Mississippi River, and Landry signed it into law May 29.
The new 6th District includes precincts in Ascension, East Baton Rouge, Iberville, Lafourche, St. Charles, St. John the Baptist, St. Martin and West Baton Rouge parishes as well as all of Assumption, Livingston, and Pointe Coupee parishes.
“It's a now pretty solid Republican district,” said Roy Fletcher, a Baton Rouge political strategist. “The question will be what kind of Republican it’ll be.”
The data used to redraw the district isn’t deep enough to determine if the Republicans take a more traditional, business-oriented positions or favor cultural issues.
Political observers suggest state Sen. Rick Edmonds, R-Baton Rouge, and State Sen. Blake Miguez, R-New Iberia, may qualify to run for Congress during the August 5 to 7 signup period.
The election will take place Nov. 3, with all candidates competing regardless of party. A December 12 runoff has been scheduled if necessary.
Edmonds and Miquez did not return calls seeking comment Tuesday afternoon.
The election to replace Selders is Dec. 12 with a runoff, if necessary, on January 7, 2027.