The front-runner in the race for a new congressman to represent Louisiana’s 6th District is no stranger to Congress, the USA Today network reports.
Republican U.S. Rep. Garret Graves recently opted against running for reelection after the Louisiana Legislature earlier this year dismantled the boundaries to create a second majority Black district—stretching from Baton Rouge to Acadiana to Alexandria to Shreveport—among the state’s six congressional seats.
Democratic Baton Rouge state Sen. Cleo Fields, who represented a similar district in Congress in the 1990s before his boundaries were drastically changed, is seeking a second shot at the U.S. House.
“This isn’t my first rodeo,” Fields says in an interview with USA Today Network. “I’m running because I want to finish what I started. I feel like I have unfinished business to help this district and my state.”
While Fields is the only announced candidate so far with official qualifying set July 17-19 for the Nov. 5 election, there are others who are rumored to run. Fields is also the only candidate to file a campaign finance report, with about $600,000 cash on hand.
