We are less than one week away from the November 5th election. On election day ballot, Louisiana voters will have the opportunity to cast their ballot for both the US presidency and their US Congressional representative.

While the presidential election is occupying most people’s attention, the US House of Representatives is certainly up for grabs for either major political party. The well-known polling aggregator 538 shows Congressional Democrats leading by a razor-thin margin of 0.3% in its aggregated generic ballot.

Similarly, The Hill‘s election model gives Congressional Republicans a 53% chance of retaining their majority in the US House of Representatives. By all metrics available, the US House is up for grabs and could ultimately come down to a SINGLE congressional district.

Enter Louisiana’s 6th Congressional district.

As you may recall, the Louisiana Legislature passed a new Congressional map during the 1st special session back in January (SB 8). At the behest of Governor Jeff Landry and AG Liz Murrill, the legislature gave into the demands of far-left activist judge Shelley Dick by passing a 2nd minority-majority Congressional district in Louisiana–District 6.

After passing through the legislature with minimal pushback, the newly-configured 6th Congressional district gave Louisiana a flagrantly gerrymandered district favorable to state Senator Cleo Fields. Fields immediately announced his run for Congress—only ONE DAY after Gov Landry signed in the new Congressional map into law.

 

Myself and other writers here on The Hayride sounded the alarm earlier this year when it came to Louisiana’s redistricting fiasco. At the time, the state legislature’s GOP-supermajority gave away a US Congressional seat for seemingly nothing in return. Cleo Fields got everything he wanted in the Redistricting special session, and Fields returned the favor by betraying Gov Landry just four months later. During the end of this year’s regular legislative session, Fields killed Governor Landry’s effort to pass a constitutional convention bill (HB 800). He refused to put the “con con” bill on calendar for the Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee. Here’s what Fields had to say back in May:

Sen. Cleo Fields, a Democrat from Baton Rouge who heads the Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee, described HB800 as essentially dead.

“HB800 will not be heard in this session of the Legislature,” Fields said in an interview with WBRZ after his panel met Tuesday. “We are going to have another meeting tomorrow but I don’t intend to put it on the agenda and I don’t intend to put it on the agenda for the rest of this session.

“There may be some other moves that may be made before the session is over with, but as far as 800, that bill will not be heard this session,” he said.

“That bill will not be heard this session.”

Well, I have some more bad news to bear. Cleo Fields is about to become Louisiana’s newest representative for our state’s 6th US Congressional district. He is the overwhelming favorite to win Louisiana’s 6th Congressional district, and we all have to come to terms with this reality.

How did this happen? Why did Republicans so easily give up a Congressional seat to a shady politician like Cleo Fields?

There were many missteps that led to his likely election. An untimely ruling from the US Supreme Court,  an emergency stay from AG Liz Murrill’s office, and the state legislature’s decision to pass Sen Womack’s gerrymandering congressional map were some of the main reasons for how we got in this mess.

Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can now do about the past. Hopefully, Louisiana Republican politicians may finally learn to stop making backroom political deals with Democrat pols, but I am not certain that’s the case.

Nevertheless, Louisiana better get used to hearing the name Congressman Cleo Fields in the coming months. However, Fields’ election could have dire consequences for the nation. We could potentially see a single-set majority in the US House of Representatives.

Let’s hope that Cleo Fields does not shift the balance of power in our nation’s power. The American Republic’s future could hinge on it.

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Nathan Koenig is a frequent contributor to RVIVR.com, a national conservative political site affiliated with The Hayride. Follow his writing on the Louisiana First Standard Substack, on Twitter (X) @LAFirstStandard, on Tik Tok @la.first.standard & on Instagram @lafirststandard. Email him here: louisianafirststandard@proton.me