Early voting for the November 3rd Louisiana midterm elections closes on October 27th. As voters weigh issues and think about how they'll check their ballots, below is a comprehensive guide to many major races and issues that will influence the future of Louisiana and the New Orleans Metro Area.
Find a sample ballot for your parish/ward/precinct.
Senate Race
Early voting has shown strong Democratic turnout in Louisiana, surpassing the numbers seen in the previous 2022 midterm election. That bodes well for Democrat Jamie Davis, whose running against Trump-backed Julia Letlow.
However, although early voter turnout has been strong, polls still indicate Letlow holds a significant lead. Most recent polls that date back to mid-September show Letlow with a 4-point lead over Davis.
More information and bios on both Louisiana Senate candidates.
Congressional House Races
All 6 Louisiana congressional districts are up for a vote, with districts featuring incumbents including House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R - District 1), Troy Carter (D - District 2), Clay Higgins (R - District 3), and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R - District 4).
In all districts, if no single candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, this will lead to a December runoff.
As it stands, projections point to Districts 1-4 being decided on Nov. 3rd. Districts 5-6 are likely to result in runoffs given the number of candidates in the race.
See below for information & bios on each of the candidates running for Louisiana congressional seats.
District 1
- Steve Scalise (Incumbent - R)
- Lauren Jewett (D)
- Randall Arrington (R)
- Liddy Glass (Unaffiliated)
District 2
- Troy Carter (Incumbent - D)
- Peter Williams (R)
- Lisa Ballay (Libertarian)
- Walter Beach (Unaffiliated)
- Renada Collins (Unaffiliated)
District 3
- Clay Higgins (Incumbent - R)
- John Day (D)
- Priscilla Gonzalez (D)
- Caleb Walker (D)
- Kate Cotten (R)
- Tia LeBrun (No Party)
District 4
- Mike Johnson (Incumbent - R)
- Conrad Cable (D)
- Matthew Gromlich (D)
- Gordon Heslop (R)
- Mike Nichols (R)
District 5
- Dan McKay (D)
- Pat Moore (D)
- Antonio Wilson (D)
- Stewart Cathey (R)
- Misti Cordell (R)
- Oscar Dantzler (R)
- Michael Echols (R)
- Gabe Firment (R)
- Austin Magee (R)
District 6
- Chauna Banks (D)
- Patrick Forbes (D)
- Lindsay Garcia (D)
- Monique Appeaning (R)
- Larry Davis (R)
- Rick Edmonds (R)
- Michael Mebruer (R)
- Blake Miguez (R)
- Stephen Wagley (R)
- Rufus Craig (Libertarian)
10 Constitutional Amendments
Louisiana voters have the opportunity to change the constitution in 10 separate ways on November 3rd.
Below is a brief description of each ballot item, along with quotes from WWL's in-depth analysis from Steven Procopio, President of the Public Affairs Research Council, below.
Full breakdown of 10 Constitutional amendments from Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana’s
Constitutional Amendment No. 1: Allows a one-time transfer of a property tax exemption for surviving spouse of a disabled veteran
"The amendment would allow the surviving spouse to have a one-time transfer to another home. The spouse could buy another home and the exemption would follow them. They can only do that once. So all the amendment does is allow for this transfer to one other home after the spouse has their disabled husband or wife die."
Constitutional Amendment No. 2: Allows taxing authority to continue lower millage rate without losing ability to adjust to max rate
"Every four years you have a reassessment (on property values). Assessors say, 'Okay, how have property values increased?' And if property values have increased, that means your property taxes are going to go up because the values have gone up. But automatically, there is what's known as a rollback, where the millage will go back lower to adjust for the increase in property values. However, a jurisdiction can decide to roll forward (the millage) with a two-thirds vote... But they only have until the next reassessment period to roll it forward. A lot of people have said that creates a perverse incentive because there's a use-it-or-lose-it type of issue here. If you don't roll forward, then once you get past that reassessment, you lost that millage that you had the ability to tax from before."
"Proponents of this bill have put forward this amendment to say instead of having a time limit that you can only roll forward during this four-year window, you can roll forward at any point in the future."
Constitutional Amendment No. 3: Prohibits release on bail for defendants who have been convicted of certain offenses against a child
"(This amendment is) only talking about people that have already had convictions. So this is post-conviction. Then there's a list of about 20 crimes that would qualify. And broadly, those are rape, sexual battery, kidnapping, or human trafficking... And the victim has to have been a minor, under 18 years old. So under those three conditions, there is no bail, not even with a judge. It removes the ability in the Constitution for that person to get any kind of bail."
Constitutional Amendment No. 4: Sets a lifetime term limit on a person who has served as governor more than one and one-half terms
"Right now you can serve as governor no more than two consecutive terms. You can serve for 8 years. But then you can sit out, and then you can run for governor again... You can serve as many two-year consecutive terms as long as you take a space in between. This amendment would simply make it two terms maximum: You could only serve 8 years."
Constitutional Amendment No. 5: Authorizes retirement systems to apply funds to any unfunded accrued liability, not only the oldest
"When we're talking about retirement, this is a public pension; this doesn't affect benefits at all. So that's the most important thing people need to hear one way or another."
"One of the things the state has done in its constitution is that if we have a surplus, 25% of that money is to be put toward paying down this pension debt. But there's a rule in the constitution that says it must be put toward the oldest debt first...This amendment would say the legislature and the retirement system can choose. Maybe they want to put it toward the newest debt or a combination of debt... You can pick and choose which debts you want to reduce."
Constitutional Amendment No. 6: Authorizes extension of an additional property tax exemption for owners who are 65 or older
"Just like we have the homestead exemption, this would create another property tax exemption for he elderly... The amount you would get would depend on how old you are. The older you are, the bigger the exemption."
"This is a local option. This would have to be put in front of a local parish or jurisdiction, and you would have to have a vote of the people. So this is not statewide; it is a particular parish or municipality to put forward, and they would have to vote on it."
Constitutional Amendment No. 7: Authorizes the use of public funds to identify, inventory, remove, or replace certain water lines
"We have a clause in the Constitution that prevents state and local governments from pledging money or donating money without specific purpose. There are some exemptions to that, but essentially the state or locals just can't give away money and not get something in return. That's really an anti-corruption clause."
"The amendment would say the government can spend money on people's water lines that run water from the street to their house. The push for this is coming from the EPA, which says in the next 10 years you have to get rid of all lead pipes. This is not a cheap thing to do, and homeowners may not have the money to do it... And so to avoid fines or losing potential grant money from the EPA, you would have jurisdictions that want to be able to spend taxpayer money on trying to help people replace their lead pipes."
Constitutional Amendment No. 8: Prohibits expropriation of property by a foreign adversary or an agent of a foreign adversary
"Expropriation is when the government can come and take your land or property, but they have to give you something that is a fair exchange... That is when they say, 'Hey, we need to build a new highway." Then they'll buy out the land or expropriate it." ... There are some private companies that can expropriate property in Louisiana. That's limited and strictly for building things like railroads, water and sewage plants, pipelines, power transmission."
"What this particular amendment will do is that companies that include foreign adversaries (according to the U.S. Treasury Department, these foreign adversaries include: Cuba, China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia, and the Regime of Nicolas Maduro)... If you have a company owned by one of these groups, you cannot expropriate property in Louisiana."
Constitutional Amendment No. 9: Increases the income limit to qualify for the special assessment level for a homestead exemption
"A property tax freeze is when you have your assessment frozen... Even if the value of your home goes up, the assessment will not go up, so your tax burden will not go up. We have it set for those people that are over 64 and make a total of less than $100k; they can get their assessment frozen... The amendment changes that $100k to $150k. And that would also grow with inflation over time."
Constitutional Amendment No. 10: Allows property tax exemption of rehabilitated blighted property under conditions provided by law
"This one is also a local option. Locals would be able to set up a special tax exemption for people who rehabilitated blighted or derelict property. They would have to pass their own laws or ordinance to define what blighted property is and a process for how you clean it or rehabilitate it. That would all be done at the local level. At the end, if they do all of this...If someone comes in and rehabilitates improved property, which could be a structure like a house or a building, 75% of the assessed value can get an exemption for 20 years...If you just improve vacant land, you can get a 25% exemption for 10 years. "
Note: The exemption rates are entirely up to how local governments set up rules and procedures. Exemptions are up to 75% & 25%, but the final number entirely depends on how it's set up by local governments.
New Orleans Home Rule Charter Amendment
City Council JP Morrell proposed amendment (PW HRC Amendment - Amends Sec. 6-103 - CC) that, if passed, would require any city department with expenditures that exceed the adopted budget to get approval from the City Council.
"Proposal to amend Section 6-103 of the Home Rule Charter of the City of New Orleans, to prohibit any allotment and expenditure of City moneys from exceeding the amount allocated in the approved annual operating budget and to require monthly reports to the City Council so that the Council monitors expenditures to ensure they remain in line with the approved budget."
