We’ve been beating the drum for a special session to redraw Louisiana’s congressional map, since that’s what’s going on in lots of other red states in response to some pretty aggressive gerrymandering in places like Illinois and California. But it’s more than that – the Supreme Court is going to rehear a lawsuit claiming that our current map, which includes a Rorschach test of a district which starts in Baton Rouge and winds its way all the way to Shreveport and is now represented by the corrupt and obnoxious Cleo Fields, in September.

It’s expected that shortly after the rehearing of the Callais v. Louisiana case, the current map will be thrown out as unconstitutional. It’s also very possible that Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which makes districts like the racially-gerrymandered one Fields currently represents a reality, might go by the boards as a result of that litigation.

We want to have a map in place which is more representative of the will of the people of Louisiana when the Supreme Court throws out the current map. A special session could produce that map in five days. This is easy stuff.

But it isn’t as easy as it should be, because in Washington they’re begging Louisiana not to do anything about the map. Inside the Trump administration they smell blood, and they think the Callais case is going to kill off Section 2. That’s a long-range win which, for the GOP and the conservative movement, is probably worth a sacrifice or two. If we were to change our congressional map now, we’d make the Callais case moot and we’d kill that potential victory.

That’s why we’re calling for a new map which is contingent on the Supreme Court throwing out the current map.

But it doesn’t seem there’s any appetite among Louisiana’s leadership to do anything along those lines.

And in the meantime, Fields isn’t helping to put this issue on the back burner among the conservative majority in Louisiana’s electorate. He went to the Baton Rouge Press Club on Monday and absolutely acted the ass…

Louisiana’s newest member of Congress accused President Donald Trump of unconstitutional actions that he says are destroying democracy.

U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields, a Democrat representing Louisiana’s new 6th Congressional District, delivered his remarks Monday to the Baton Rouge Press Club.

“I think the president is really bringing this country closer and closer to a dictatorship, and I’ve said to my constituents the best way to deal with a bully is to stand up to him,” Fields said.

Yes, it was that kind of a speech.

His speech focused primarily on Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, which Fields called “one big ugly bill” because of the legislation’s steep cuts to the nation’s social safety net programs. The bill will reduce federal spending on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program by roughly $186 billion and cut nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid, which is estimated to take health coverage away from 10 million people, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

“Hospitals will close,” Fields said. “Grocery stores will close.”

We’re not going to get into a detailed discussion of the assortment of dumb claims Fields made. It’s all standard-issue Democrat Party bilge.

None of which is surprising. It’s not a secret who Cleo Fields is ideologically.

Except we were told by certain people on the GOP side that he was “transactional,” and that Fields was somebody who could be – if not bought, then at least rented.

That you weren’t getting a Gary Chambers or Karen Carter Peterson by making Cleo Fields a congressman again.

OK, fine. But where is the evidence for that? There isn’t any so far.

He’s utterly indistinguishable from Troy Carter, who represents Louisiana’s other racially-gerrymandered district. He’s also utterly indistinguishable from Ilhan Omar, Eric Swalwell and AOC.

And now he’s making himself loud and obnoxious in calling Trump a dictator and pushing all of the rhetoric of the Squad.

Again, none of it is a surprise. To people who thought Fields would be somebody reasonable, perhaps it’s a disappointment.

Without a special session to change the map, what’s going to happen is that the Supreme Court will rule after the case is reheard, and it’ll throw out the current map – but that won’t go into effect until the 2028 election.

And this is why we’re using the analogy of an unflushed toilet, gross as it is, to describe this.

Because having Fields making atrocious votes and yapping like a little communist chihuahua in front of the press is a situation which can go toxic. Eventually, nobody will want to go near it, and people will get angry at those responsible.

If that map isn’t changed in advance of next year’s elections, Cleo Fields will still be in Congress when the 2027 statewide elections come around. And Fields’ efforts to make himself a hero among national Democrats and within the Congressional Black Caucus are going to give off a stink.

Not one which covers Democrats in Louisiana. Everybody already knows about how they smell. No, this covers the Republicans who put Fields in Congress by passing the current map.

Talk to pretty much every Republican in the state legislature and they will enthusiastically tell you that the vote which established the current map is the worst one they’ve made. Almost none of them will say they’d do it again. A lot of them blame Gov. Jeff Landry for pressuring them into that vote.

So you can make the argument that they did what they had to do back in January of 2024. It was unpleasant and regrettable but necessary.

But that means if you can flush that vote away when it’s over, you do it.

And they aren’t.

We worry about the public’s sentiment toward this situation when they get to pass judgement on the folks responsible, and the continued stench of comments like those Fields made at the Baton Rouge Press Club when they keep coming. Especially when this is a fixable situation with just a little leadership willing to go to an unpleasant place for a short time.