LA Congressman Cleo Fields won’t seek reelection after Democrat’s seat was redrawn

But don’t you worry, he’s still going to remain in elected office! Cleo is going to run to return to the State Senate.

quote:

---

Democratic U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields said Tuesday he would not seek reelection to his redrawn Louisiana congressional district that was at the center of a major U.S. Supreme Court ruling on race and redistricting.

The majority Black congressional district was redrawn by the state legislature in May to favor Republicans in November’s midterm elections. A month earlier, the Supreme Court ruled that Fields’ district relied too heavily on race and was an “unconstitutional gerrymander.”

“After a great deal of prayer and reflection, I have decided not to seek reelection, to Congress, in the 6th District or any other district in Louisiana,” Fields said.

Fields, who a longtime fixture in Louisiana politics, said he would instead seek a seat in the state Senate.

The Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the map favoring Fields’ district escalated a nationwide redistricting battle

---

quote:

---

Louisiana Republicans had considered drawing a map this year that would have given the party a shot at winning all six of the state’s U.S. House seats. But that would have required adding more registered Democrats to Republican-held districts, potentially backfiring with GOP losses.

The new map renews Fields’ district to cluster it around predominantly white communities in the Baton Rouge area and southern Louisiana.

Fields had previously served two terms in the U.S. House from 1993 to 1997 and was the state’s second Black member of Congress in Louisiana.

---

LINK

quote:

---

Engster noted Fields’ long history with both the state legislature and congressional redistricting.

“Historically, he goes down as one for the history books. Cleo Fields has been elected to the Senate in three different iterations: five years, 11 years, five years. This will be the fourth time; nobody’s done that in the past. And he also has twice been nailed by congressional redistricting. And nobody’s had that happen, and it happened to him three decades apart,” Engster said.

Engster also commented on Fields’ tenure in the state legislature.

“He knows the state legislature well. He’s served there over 20 years in three different iterations,” Engster said.

---

LINK

Dude was first elected to the State Senate in 1987, assuming that office in 1988. Fields is only 63 years old, but has spent about 20 years of his life in the Louisiana State Senate, and will have spent another 6 in Congress. The State Senate race is next year.