Hy and Christopher are joining in our post-election roundtable with Jeff Crouere of ringsidepolitics.com and Curtis Robinson of hunter-gathererspodcast.com to analyze Trump’s unexpected landslide victory.  What are the reasons, and how did his coattails make a difference? Two examples are demonstrated in the second and sixth congressional districts in Louisiana, explained below.

Later in the show, we explore Governor Jeff Landry’s tax reform proposal. Answering growing legislative opposition to his tax reform proposals, including the elimination of the film, live performance, historic restoration, quality jobs, and sales tax exemptions on everything from boat storage to wedding planners, Landry appeared before joint session of the legislature, pleading for a repeal of the 1,400-page tax code in favor of a 3% flat tax individuals, 3.5% on corporations, and a broader sales tax on everything but prescription drugs—a tax which would be eliminated.

Carter Re-Elected with 183,897 votes out of 305,019
By Christopher Tidmore
A group of Garden District voters expressed surprise to The Louisiana Weekly on the evening of November 5th that they had found 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 Second Congressional District, as a side effect of the shifts all across the state to allow the creation of the new minority-majority Sixth 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 Second 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% of the vote, Devin Lance Graham at 13%, Christy Lynch at 14%, and Shondrell Perrilloux at 3%. This GOP strength on election day proved particularly interesting because the Second District boasts of only 16% 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, Troy Carter was easily re-elected on November 5 with 60% of the vote in a seat that is 56% 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% of the vote, running fourth.
To claim his second full term, Carter managed to win in excess of 70% of the vote in sone of his core Orleans and Westbank 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 Sixth District ended up benefiting the New Orleans-based candidate.  Carter over-performed in the areas which once constituted his councilmanic and state senate districts.
The New Orleans Congressman returns to a closely divided US 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.
LA’s Second District Congressman went so far as to create an 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. 

Fields Returns To US House
By Christopher Tidmore
As chairman of the legislative committee charged with creating a new LA majority-minority district, Cleo Fields himself drew the newly reconstituted Sixth Congressional as a seat so stretched across the state that only a candidate with his level of name recognition could win it.   He succeeded—barely.  The LA State Senator will return to the United States Congress after a 28-year absence, yet his victory on November 5, 2024 proved far tighter than any had previously predicted.
Fields won 51% of the vote, avoiding a December 7 runoff by a very close margin.  His principal Republican challenger, former State Senator Elbert Guillory, earned 38% of the vote in a district with only 22% GOP registration.  The 80-year-old former GOP legislator may have been put into the race as a “sacrificial lamb”, yet both Donald Trump‘s coattails and an estimated 25% of Black men who expressed the willingness to cross party lines in this election allowed him to over-perform.  Despite heavily campaigning, Guillory was outspent by Fields almost 10 to 1, yet a runoff almost occurred.   Guillory won 25% of the vote in Fields’ home of East Baton Rouge and 50% of the vote in West Baton Rouge.  In Guillory’s home of St. Landry Parish, he earned 55% of the vote, the same result as he won in Point Coupee and Avoyelles.  In Natchitoches and Rapides, Guillory topped 57%.
While the Republican former state senator over-performed, the same cannot be said for Fields’ three other Democratic challengers.  Quentin Anthony Anderson won 8%, Wilken Jones, Jr. 1%, and Peter Williams 2%.  Guillory had counted upon a division in the Democratic vote to carry him to a December runoff, where a lower turnout might have given the Republican a fighting chance.
However, strong voter loyalty in the more populous cities, a 66% result for Fields in Shreveport’s Caddo and in 62% EBR, proved just enough to carry him into narrow first primary victory.  Odds are he would have won in a runoff regardless, given the Democratic lien of the district.
The question is, though, how long will Cleo Fields keep his current congressional seat before it is drawn away from him?  He lost his congressional career three decades ago when his minority-majority seat was ruled to be to excessively gerrymandered. It could happen again. The United States Supreme Court has agreed to review the constitutionality of the lines of the 6th District.   Plaintiffs claim that the oddly shaped district which runs from Baton Rouge to Shreveport is too geographically distorted—and only constituted on racial grounds.