One of the most consequential bills of the Louisiana Legislature’s 2025 regular session – especially for reformers and Republicans – that has received no media attention now awaits the pen of Republican Gov. Jeff Landry to sign it into law.

HB 625 by GOP state Rep. Rhonda Butler would expand the municipal/party primary election date on Apr. 18, 2026 to include constitutional amendments. Otherwise, those amendments would be next eligible for ratification in 2026 on Nov. 3.

As of this writing, over half a dozen potential constitutional amendments remain realistically alive for supermajority approval in each chamber. While some would go to the voters on Nov. 3, three significant ones—favored by Republicans and generally opposed by Democrats—were amended to appear on the earlier Apr. 18 date. In each case, this move raises their chances of passage.

Only months ago, the GOP received a rude reminder of why election dates matter. With that supermajority having sent four measures to the polls in the spring – the last time this time of the year had been tapped for amendment approval since 1989 – all went down to defeat, including a sweeping fiscal reform measure in scope not seen since another knocked down over three decades ago. Especially with that one, Democrats had demagogued against it.

And it worked, because in recent years high-stimulus elections have disproportionately drawn Republican support. In many parts of the state with little or nothing else on the ballot, turnout on Mar. 29 was much lower than typical for ballots featuring statewide contests.

Nov. 3 would guarantee a higher stimulus to aid Republican causes, in particular the three measures. Two would implement parts of the reform defeated this spring – HB 366 by Republican state Rep. Daryl Deshotel and HB 473 by Republican state Rep. Julie Emerson – while the third, SB 8 by GOP state Sen. Jay Morris, would give the Legislature statutory authority to add unclassified civil service positions to the state workforce.

But Apr. 18, 2026 would provide an even greater boost, for two reasons. First, this will be the initial primary contest for congressional offices, headlined by an ultra-competitive GOP Senate nomination centered on whether Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy can fend off a conservative challenge that will drive Republican turnout sky high. Meanwhile, turnout for Democrats in that party primary—without such a barn-burner—should be significantly lower. By Nov. 3, there should be more parity in partisan turnout, which comparatively increases the chances of the measures’ defeats.

Second, likely before the end of this month the U.S. Supreme Court will rule the state’s present congressional map unconstitutional. In its place could arise a map featuring one majority-minority district and another “opportunity” district with a white voter plurality—meaning that without superior GOP turnout, Democrats could win that second seat. If so, in the primary phase, both parties will likely aim to limit competition and steer nominations toward preferred candidates thought most competitive in the general election, dampening turnout on Apr. 18. It would then be the Nov. 3 election, marked by an intense get-out-the-vote effort, that could drive Democrat turnout as high as Republican turnout in that district—working against passage of the three items compared to the spring date and exerting outsized influence on the statewide vote, since all other House contests should be perfunctory with significantly lower turnouts.

It is no accident that the amendments most actively opposed by the political left have been slotted by supermajority Republicans for the earlier election date. Landry’s signature on HB 625 will give any that make it onto the ballot (all three are on the doorstep of doing so, procedurally speaking at this time) improved chances of putting GOP agenda items into the Constitution.