This story was originally published by Louisiana Illuminator
Chauna Banks, a Black Democrat, finished first on Tuesday in the 6th Congressional District primary, a district that had to be redrawn after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled its previous version was a racial gerrymander.
Only 665 votes separated Banks from the second-place finisher, state Sen. Blake Miguez, who, as a Republican, will be heavily favored to defeat her in a Dec. 12 runoff election.
Miguez finished less than 1,000 votes ahead of the candidate in third place, state Sen. Rick Edmonds, R-Baton Rouge, in a contest with nearly 262,000 total votes cast. It wasn’t until after more than 90% of ballots had been counted that Banks, a former East Baton Rouge Parish Metro Council member, surged from third place to the lead.
Banks and Miguez are vying to replace U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields, a Black Democrat from Baton Rouge who decided not to seek reelection after the Supreme Court’s decision in Callais v. Louisiana. The plaintiffs, a group of white voters, challenged the lines of the 6th District that state lawmakers had drawn in 2024, successfully arguing that the underlying Voting Rights Act principles were unconstitutional.
The 2024 map gave Louisiana a second Black-majority district out of its six U.S. House seats to account for the 31% of state voters who are Black.
The Callais decision crumpled up that map and led Gov. Jeff Landry to revise the state’s election calendar so the Republican-led legislature could update Louisiana’s congressional district lines. The governor’s executive order halted the May 15 party primaries for U.S. House seats after absentee ballots had already been filed.
Eight other states also reconfigured their U.S. House maps in response to the Callais decision.
In addition to running in a predominantly white and Republican district, Banks will also face a distinct campaign finance disadvantage against Miguez. He raised more than $7.7 million for his congressional bid, according to Federal Election Commission data.
The agency had no records on Banks’ campaign.
The runoff winner will represent a district that includes much of East Baton Rouge Parish and portions of Ascension, Assumption, Iberville, Lafourche, Pointe Coupee, St. John the Baptist, St. Martin and West Baton Rouge parishes.