Louisiana’s House leaders face challenges in managing their delegation

After the Supreme Court ordered Louisiana to use a congressional map with an additional black majority district, Rep. Garret Graves is considering running in another House race — much to the dismay of his fellow Louisiana Republicans.

While the five-term congressman has left his options open, he faces a difficult situation. If he stays in his 6th Congressional District, he faces a high chance of losing to his Democratic challenger due to the changed district lines. If he decides to run in a different race, such as against Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA), he risks the alienation of the rest of his party, who are urging him to stay put. Graves and Letlow reportedly have a close relationship and the possibility of Graves coming after her job would not be appreciated.

The state’s district lines were redrawn after a federal court found the old ones violated the Voting Rights Act. As a result, Graves’s district now favors President Joe Biden by 20 points. Graves’s colleagues argue that he still has a chance of winning, and Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) warned Graves that he won’t have party support if he decides to crash another GOP incumbent’s race.

“I am prayerful that Garret, my friend, will decide to continue serving Congress as he is now – as a congressman of the sixth district. And if he runs in that district — in his own district — he’ll find a tremendous amount of help from me and from other Republicans in the state,” Higgins told Politico. “The party apparatus will rally around him and support him. Whereas if he determines to run against a colleague, and I could be one of those, he’ll find that to be a very rocky path.”

According to Higgins, GOP leadership — such as House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who are both from Louisiana — are very nervous about the possibility of Graves racing against another incumbent. And with the fractious House dealing with infighting for much of the 118th Congress, more of the same would not be a good look as November approaches.

Last week, the House GOP’s top four leaders endorsed Letlow. Former President Donald Trump has also endorsed the incumbent, and so did Gov. Jeff Landry (R-LA) this week.

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The likely Democratic nominee in Graves’s district is Cleo Fields, a black state senator and former House member from the 1990s. While Graves’s district may now skew toward Democrats, he still has the power of incumbency and cash reserves.

Graves has until July 19 to make his decision — the state’s deadline for candidates to file.