Duplessis, Landry declare for 5th District Senate seat
27th June 2022 · 0 Comments
By Christopher Tidmore
Contributing Writer
Two state Senate candidates kicked off their respective bids to replace Karen Carter Peterson, in the shadow of a special session ordered by the courts to draw a second majority-minority congressional district. A special session which ultimately achieved nothing.
State Reps. Mandie Landry and Royce Duplessis each argued the justice of creating another Black district in a state where a third of the population is African American, yet 83 percent of the seats are gerrymandered for (white) Republicans.
As noted, the La. Republican legislative leadership opted to draw no new district lines in the special session ending on Sunday, June 18. Instead, the La. House Speaker and Senate president have banked upon a petition to the United States Supreme Court to overrule Federal District Judge Shelly Dick’s order. They aim to keep a Caucasian majority in the 5th U.S. House District as to protect GOP incumbent Congresswoman Julia Letlow.
The GOP legislature did possess another alternative, between drawing a clear Black majority and keeping a “lilly white” GOP seat, though she admitted, it was not the personal preference of Representative-turned-senatorial candidate Mandie Landry. In an interview with The Louisiana Weekly, Rep. Landry noted the disinterest held creating a compromise minority-leaning seat, which could have possibly kept a degree of competitiveness between the parties, and yet still grant African-American voters a greater advantage in electing one of their own. “What that would be called is legally a ‘Majority opportunity district.’ And there are many throughout the country. Many members of the Congressional Black Caucus do not represent a majority-minority district, but represent majority opportunity who number somewhere in the 40s – 40 percent African American.”
Precedent existed to create a swing district where incumbent Julia Letlow would have a chance, and where also the spirit of the Voting Rights Act would be upheld. Instead, Landry explained, the GOP leadership “politically and legally what they want to do is drag it out, and if the court draws it so be it – as long as they’re not the ones responsible.”
Despite her good working relationship with this same Republican legislative hierarchy, Landry herself did not hesitate to cross swords with them as one of the loudest Caucasian advocates of a new Black majority district. Of course, her announced rival for Senate District 5, the neighboring 93rd District state Rep. Royce Duplessis, actually authored one of the more popular proposals to draw a second Black district – at least amongst most House Democrats.
Their parallel predominance on the issue came in the shadow of each’s kickoffs of their respective state senatorial campaigns the weekend prior to the special session. On Friday, June 10, Landry gathered with her closest supporters at Nola Brewery on Tchoupitoulas St. for a grand launch celebration.
Royce Duplessis announced his Senate candidacy just hours before. In announcing his candidacy, the House District 93 representative emphasized that he had passed over 70 legislative instruments since taking office in 2018 including “smarter criminal justice laws like limiting the release of mugshots prior to conviction, as well as legislation promoting economic development, expanding access to healthcare, and improving early literacy.”
Yet the subtext of Duplessis’ bid comes directly from his handcrafted bill to add a second majority-minority congressional district. He directly countered House Speaker Clay Schexnayder’s contention that the court had asked the Legislature to “tackle the issue again,” and therefore, the need to redraw was not urgent.
“We were ordered by a federal district court and by three federal appellate judges,” Duplessis said. “We are either going to respect the law or we are not going to respect the law.”
Ultimately, Schexnayder and Senate President Page Cortez have gambled that the U.S. Supreme Court would overrule Shelly Dick, before that District Judge redraws the 5th Congressional seat into possessing a Black majority.
Both candidates enthusiastically took to the campaign trail as the legislature voted, having achieved no map changes in the special session. However, uncertainty over the senatorial field remains due to the possible candidacy of Amy Addato Freeman.
Freeman could enjoy a slight political advantage because many of her university-area Caucasian constituents remain in Senate District 5 – at least until January.
When the former Sen. Karen Carter Peterson ran for re-election for a third term in 2019, demographic data had suggested that the seat was 46 percent white to 45 percent Black. Even then, Carter Peterson herself told The Louisiana Weekly that if her district had not already approached a Caucasian majority, gentrification would soon bring that about shift.
Recent Census data settled the argument suggesting that the current demographics of District 5 do cross the 50 percent threshold. That was one of the arguments that neighboring Republican Sen. Cameron Henry used to draw out the university area of Uptown out of Carter’s District 5 into his seat – over her loud objections.
Until January 2023 at least, the current District 5 lines begin with a small sliver of Jefferson Parish, in the historically Black Shrewsbury/New Harlem neighborhood, and then cross into Orleans Parish to encompass most of Hollygrove and extend all the way on both sides of Tulane Ave. to the CBD. The seat also stretches out to encompass most of the Treme neighborhood, but excludes the French Quarter to the south.
Early voting for the November election begins October 25, with qualifying for the state Senate special election. Qualifying occurs July 20-22.
This article originally published in the June 27, 2022 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
