More than 500,000 Louisiana voters cast ballots during the early voting period that ended on Tuesday.
According to one analyst, the voter turnout figures are bad news for Republican candidates.
"In Orleans and Jefferson, early voting was up 73 percent over 2022," JMC Analytics pollster John Couvillon said.
That's compared to a 41-percent increase on the Northshore. Couvillon told WWL's Tommy Tucker that those numbers are the result of an energized Democratic base and Black voters who cast early ballots.
"The Black percent of the vote was very high, it was 34.4 percent," Couvillon said, noting that only the 2008 presidential election and last year's constitutional amendment referendum had higher Black voter turnouts. "Democrats are much more energized in Louisiana and nationally than they were in 2024, and that energy is worth a few points in the polls, and that's why I think the Louisiana Senate race is going to be closer than is popularly thought."
What's more: Couvillon says Republicans who voted early may not necessarily have voted along party lines--especially those who supported Bill Cassidy and John Fleming in the party primary.
"I am seeing in poll after poll a 10- to 20-percent defection rate among Republicans," Couvillon said.
Couvillon says Republicans have taken notice of those stats and that energy and have ramped up their own efforts as a result.
"Now I'm starting to see anti-Jamie Davis ads, which is a very strong sign to me that they're seeing something they don't like, whether its early voting, polling, or both of the above," Couvillon said.
