US Rep. Carter wins in walkover

By Christopher Tidmore
Contributing Writer

A group of Garden District voters expressed surprise to The Louisiana Weekly on the evening of November 5 after finding themselves suddenly redrawn into Steve Scalise’s congressional seat. The overwhelming group of Caucasian Democratic voters were perplexed why their “deep blue” precincts ended up in the GOP majority district.

The loss of several key precincts which had long been part of Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District, as a side effect of the shifts all across the state to allow the creation of the new minority-majority 6th Congressional District, could have proven a liability for Rep. Troy Carter. Some of the incumbent’s most reliable core constituencies were lost just as the sophomore congressman faced a surprisingly well-organized challenge from the left from Democrat Devin Davis.

With new electorates drawn-in to the 2nd Congressional District by the Legislature last year, Carter could have been forced into a runoff. A perfect storm might have been forming as three Republicans also entered the 2024 contest, drawing away moderate voters. In the end, these GOP contenders collectively earned 30 percent of the vote – Devin Lance Graham at 13 percent, Christy Lynch at 14 percent and Shondrell Perrilloux at three percent. This GOP strength on election day proved particularly interesting because the 2nd District boasts of only 16 percent Republican registration. Therefore, such decent turnout on the right matched with a strong Democratic challenge from the left could have cast Carter into a lower turnout December 7 runoff, where any result was possible.

In the end, though, Carter was easily re-elected on November 5 with 60 percent of the vote in a seat that is 56 percent Democratic by registration. The incumbent sophomore congressman campaigned far harder than many observers expected, with extensive television, print and social media advertising, as well as in-person events. Carter spent a lot of time and money to win back his office, and it showed. Devin Davis, his principal progressive Democratic opponent, ended up only getting 11 percent of the vote, running fourth.

To claim his second full term, Carter managed to win in excess of 70 percent of the vote in some of his core Orleans and West Bank Jefferson precincts, offsetting Davis’ campaign efforts in the River Parishes. Ironically, under the old map, Carter’s margin of victory might have been tighter, but the loss of several Baton Rouge metro precincts to the newly created 6th District ended up benefiting the New Orleans-based candidate. Carter over-performed in the areas which once constituted his council and state Senate districts.

The New Orleans congressman returns to a closely divided U.S. House of Representatives in Washington. While he serves on the House Homeland Security and Transportation committees, his unofficial role as a conduit of communication between his two long-time personal friends, Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, has granted him an outsized role. Carter has played 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.

This article originally published in the November 11, 2024 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.