Published 6:45 am Saturday, November 7, 2026
By Jim Beam
Yes, Louisiana does have a Democratic Party. And yes, the party did awaken to help the U.S. Senate campaign of Jamie Davis that picked up 49% of the vote in Tuesday’s midterm election.
The National Democratic Party, unfortunately, is a different story. James Carville, the well-known Democratic strategist, explained the situation when he talked about how well the Democratic Senate candidate also did in Mississippi. That race is still undecided.
Carville said “the national institution of the Democratic Party and the national institution of media doesn’t believe that Louisiana or Mississippi exist.”
Stephanie Grace in her column in The Advocate said, “Back home, though, Davis’ near miss, on a night when fellow Democrats racked up seemingly impossible wins elsewhere, felt seismic.”
Grace added, “Don’t forget that when this crazy election cycle started, most Republicans didn’t consider Democrats a factor, and most experienced Democrats didn’t either.”
Yes, Davis’ near-win was seismic, and the next question is: What is the state Democratic Party going to do about the Louisiana’s governor’s race that is less than a year away?
Republican Gov. Jeff Landry has had some economic development success but the secrecy behind it has cost Louisiana taxpayers billions of dollars in lost tax revenues. He and members of his administration seldom explain their actions and refuse when asked for comment about critical issues facing Louisianans.
The governor won the Oct. 14, 2023, gubernatorial election with 52% of the primary vote. The turnout was 36.3% and he got only half of that. Landry was also elected when there were only two Democrats among the 15 candidates.
President Donald Trump, Landry’s mentor, suffered a major defeat Tuesday. The Associated Press said Democrats ushered in a new era of congressional resistance to Trump, which he hasn’t faced for two years.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, will be looking for other work. Johnson said he would give up his leadership role and just be a regular member of the House. Scalise said he would seek to become the Republican’s minority leader.
Johnson and Scalise have led the House since October 2023. It was the first time in history that the two highest ranking House leaders in charge of the legislative agenda were from the same state. And they gave Trump everything he wanted.
In a story titled “The Speaker Who Gave the House Away,” Atlantic magazine said Johnson made a statement earlier this year that captured his approach to the job. Johnson said, “I have no intention of getting in the way of President Trump and his administration.”
The Associated Press said voters did the opposite. “Democrats have won control of the U.S. House in addition to the U.S. Senate, delivering a shockingly decisive rebuke of Republican governance in Washington and ushering in a new era of congressional resistance to President Donald Trump.”
Trump hasn’t said much about the election. He reacted Wednesday by showing off the White House ballroom he’s building. The AP said he demonstrated the kind of detached behavior that voters around the country said was a key reason they opted to punish his party.
The president conveniently ignored the problems caused by his undeclared war with Iran, high fuel prices, a deadly immigration deportation effort and high tariffs, all of which were factors in the defeat of congressional Republicans.
Trump insisted he didn’t lead the party into an Election Day drubbing despite staging a flurry of rallies where he asked supporters to pretend that he was on the ballot.
“If I were on the ballot I would have won,” Trump insisted.
Maybe not. Kansas, South Carolina, Texas, Ohio and Iowa — all states that Trump easily won two years ago — backed Democrats for the U.S. Senate and, in several of them, for governor, too.
Democrats needed at least 218 seats to have a House majority and they ended up securing over 240 to 250+ seats. Democrats also flipped at least seven Senate seats across several states. Two of those seats are still undecided.
What Louisiana Democrats need to do is find a candidate like Jamie Davis who can give Gov. Landry a run for his money on Oct. 9, 2027. Texas and Kansas found two good Democrats, ministers James Talarico in Texas and Adam Hamilton in Kansas.
Jim Beam, the retired editor of the American Press, has covered people and politics for more than six decades. Contact him at jim.beam.press@gmail.com.
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