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Gov. Jeff Landry speaks at the podium before the bill signing for the tax reform package at the State Capitol on Thursday, December 5, 2024.

 Photo by Javier Gallegos / The Advocate

There were so many big political stories in 2024 that my initial list ran well past the usual dozen or so items. I considered trying to convince my colleagues that a column on the year’s top 17 political stories would be clickbait gold, but then I remembered I’m decades older than most of them and know nothing of how clickbait actually works.

My only recourse was to lump quasi-related stories together to pare down my list to the requisite 10. Even then, at least half of the stories that made the cut involve Gov. Jeff Landry. It’s been that kind of year. 

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Clancy DuBos

1. Jeff Landry’s power grabs — The Man Who Would be Kingfish got busy in his first year as governor, stirring things up in everybody’s pond. I noted soon after he took office that he was attempting a Huey Long-style power grab. Now, less than a year later, a compliant GOP-dominated Legislature has given him a weaker public records law and absolute control of the most important state boards and commissions, particularly the higher-education boards and the ethics board. Lawmakers also gave him a Sword of Damocles over the state Supreme Court, the Public Service Commission, the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) and the state’s GOP congressional delegation by subjecting them all to party primaries beginning in 2026. Anyone who represents a conservative district (which is most of them) will be “primaried” on the GOP side if they don’t toe Landry’s line. And he’s just getting started.

2. Louisiana’s insurance crisis — The irony of the second-biggest story of the year is that Landry and lawmakers did so little about it — beyond making it easier for insurance companies to raise rates, under the unproven theory that it will increase competition and somehow lower rates…eventually. Landry failed to call a special session to deal with the crisis and then vetoed the most important “tort reform” bill that lawmakers passed — handing his trial lawyer friends (read: campaign contributors) a big win.

3. Redistricting — Under pressure from federal lawsuits (and with Landry’s support), lawmakers created a second majority-Black congressional district and a second majority-Black Supreme Court district. This story isn’t over, however; the congressional map faces a court challenge.

4. Criminal justice reforms undone — As promised, the governor called lawmakers into a special session on crime. They promptly rolled back criminal justice reforms that a bipartisan majority of lawmakers approved in 2017. The new “tough on crime” laws guarantee that taxpayers will ultimately pay hundreds of millions of dollars more every year to fund prisons — one of Louisiana’s few growth industries.

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Jefferson Parish Council member Jennifer Van Vrancken, left, speaks as Council member Scott Walker, far right, is seen reflected in a glass divider during a council meeting at the Joseph S. Yenni Building in Elmwood on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (Staff photo by Brett Duke, The Times-Picayune)

5. Landry’s tax package passes, sort of — He didn’t get everything he wanted, but he got what he wanted most: a flat, 3% personal income tax. It’s not tax reform, though. To keep the plan in balance, Landry agreed to raising the state sales tax to 5%. Ironically, poor people won’t be the only ones paying more. Big, out-of-state corporations also will take a hit, despite a nominal reduction in their income tax rate from 7.5% to 5.5% — thanks to Landry and lawmakers eliminating corporate income tax loopholes.

6. Police stories — New Orleans’ violent crime rate continues to decline, but the NOPD’s rape clearance rate hit new lows. Meanwhile, a federal judge is considering ending the consent decree that has brought major changes — and oversight — at the troubled department. In yet another major change, Landry created and staffed Troop Nola, giving the Louisiana State Police a presence in the Crescent City.

7. Cantrell’s conundrums — Mayor LaToya Cantrell began to look more and more like a target of federal investigators after the feds indicted her bodyguard and a favored city contractor in separate cases. She’s handling the pressure well, however, by maintaining a busy travel schedule at taxpayers’ expense.

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New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell at the demolition of houses in the Gordon Plaza neighborhood of New Orleans on Wednesday, October 30, 2024. About 65 houses that were built on a toxic waste site will be torn down to make way for a solar farm. (Photo by Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune)

8. NOLA Council to the rescue — The New Orleans City Council stepped into the city’s leadership void again this year. Council members found money to complete the Sewerage & Water Board’s badly needed power substation; convinced voters to enshrine the Housing Trust Fund in the City Charter; bailed out the Orleans Parish School Board after an “accounting error” created a shortfall of $40 million to $60 million (and used the bailout to settle a board lawsuit against the city); and voted to sidetrack Cantrell’s attempt to give a long-term “professional services” contract for French Quarter trash collection to Troy Henry, a political ally. All interested parties — including the council and bona fide waste companies — are now in court; Henry won a preliminary round, but the council is appealing that decision. Meanwhile, voters hope both the Quarter and the mayor clean up in time for the Super Bowl, which the city will host on Feb. 9.

9. The Senate steps up — State senators, led by Senate President Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, killed or watered down some of Jeff Landry’s most egregious proposals in his first year as governor — most notably the governor’s repeated attempts to call a quickie constitutional convention. Henry earned widespread praise for his stewardship of the upper chamber throughout the year, particularly for rescuing Landry’s tax plan in the November special session.

10. Turmoil brewing in Jefferson — The Jefferson Parish Council devolved into uncharacteristic infighting as at-large Council member Jennifer Van Vrancken all but declared war on her colleagues over a proposed brewpub in parish-owned space in Gretna. Five council members also proposed a controversial ordinance to limit public comments by Inspector General Kim Chatelain, who criticized the brewpub proposal before officially investigating it. The council postponed a vote on the ordinance, holding out hope for a potential compromise with Chatelain, but things could still go sideways. Meanwhile, voters narrowly rejected the parish school board’s proposed millage for teacher pay raises on Dec. 7.

2025 promises even more interesting times.

Happy holidays, y’all.

Clancy DuBos is Gambit's politics editor. You can reach him at clancy@gambitweekly.com.