Rep. Troy Carter elected vice chair of Congressional Black Caucus

By Christopher Tidmore
Contributing Writer

It’s should come as no big surprise that Troy Carter was elected vice chair of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) given his rising stature in the halls of the U.S. House, and his election definitely constitutes a coup for New Orleans and Louisiana. The La. 2nd Congressional District representative follows in the tradition of his predecessor, Cedric Richmond, a former chair of the CBC, and it might only be the first step for Carter toward the U.S. House leadership.

Serving as chairman of the Black Caucus proved a pathway to power for Hakeem Jeffries, in particular, facilitating his election to his current post as Democratic Minority Leader. And Carter, like Cedric Richmond, has proven a major conduit between the Republican leadership and his own senior Democrats. Jeffries is a longtime friend and fraternity brother of Carter’s, and his friendship with Steve Scalise dates back more than 30 years to their service together in the Legislature as young Louisiana state representatives. In fact, Scalise played a major role in Carter winning the 2nd District seat, directing Republican money and institutional support away from the GOP candidate, facilitating Carter’s election to the U.S. House over the initial favorite, Karen Carter Peterson.

Subsequently, Carter’s unofficial role as a conduit of communication between his two long-time personal friends, Majority Leader Scalise and Minority Leader Jeffries, has granted him an outsized role. Carter has ended up playing a key role in passing several pieces of legislation. Louisiana’s 2nd District congressman went so far as to create a regular end-of-the-week bipartisan cocktail party in his office for members from all over the country just to keep the lines of communication open between the parties. As a result, Carter’s almost singular role as ambassador between the factions granted him an outsized influence in the previous Congress – which will likely continue into the next.

Besides his new leader-ship post in the CBC, the New Orleans congressman returns to a closely divided U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, where the GOP has a one-seat majority after the impending resignation of two of his colleagues to serve in the Trump cabinet, and the departure of Matt Gaetz in his failed attempt to become attorney general. Carter, therefore, quite literally could serve as the swing vote in the U.S. Congress, giving him a much larger influence than his membership in the U.S. House Homeland Security and Transportation committees might suggest.

This article originally published in the December 9, 2024 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.