The Bayou Progressive

06/05/2026

The new OIG report on Winn Correctional Center is damning.

Federal inspectors found failures tied to use of force, safety, food storage, medical care, legal access, detainee communications and basic recordkeeping. They also said facility staff failed to provide complete video footage from some reviewed use-of-force incidents.

This is what immigration detention looks like when accountability is weak, oversight is fragmented and people are locked away in rural facilities most of the public never sees.

A newly released federal watchdog report found serious safety, medical, legal access and use-of-force violations at Winn Correctional Center, a Louisiana facility used to detain immigrants for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General r...

06/03/2026

Tia LeBrun is no longer running as a Democrat in Louisiana’s newly redrawn 3rd Congressional District.

After the cancellation of the original congressional primary and the shift to a fall open-primary election, LeBrun says she has changed her registration to No Party — not because her values have changed, but because the race itself has changed.

According to LeBrun, the switch is a strategic move in a district where Democrats, Republicans, independents and No Party voters will all appear in the same electorate. And it adds another layer to a race already reshaped by redistricting, court rulings and months of political chaos.

Tia LeBrun, who entered the 2026 race for Louisiana’s 3rd Congressional District as a Democrat, announced that she has changed her party registration and will now run as a No Party candidate in the newly configured district.

06/02/2026

Louisiana has a new congressional map.

With Gov. Landry's signature last week, the new redistricting law redraws all six of the state’s U.S. House districts, moving parishes, splitting communities and reshaping the 2026 congressional elections.

We broke the map down district by district so voters, organizers, candidates, journalists and political nerds can quickly see where each parish lands under the new lines.

Litigation is expected. But unless a court intervenes quickly, these are likely the congressional lines Louisiana voters will use this fall.

Full breakdown at BayouProgressive.com.

06/02/2026

Louisiana’s congressional map has changed again.

We broke down the new map district by district, with a parish-level guide to what’s now in Districts 1 through 6 and which parishes are split between multiple congressional districts.

With litigation expected, these lines may still be challenged. But unless a court steps in quickly, this is the map Louisiana voters will likely use in November.

Gov. Jeff Landry has signed Louisiana’s newest congressional map into law, locking in another dramatic rewrite of the state’s U.S. House districts after years of litigation, court orders, legislative reversals and voter confusion. Under the newly signed law, Louisiana Republicans have likely dra...

05/29/2026

When even Clay Higgins is calling the Louisiana GOP’s congressional map - a map that passed along party lines for the final time in the Senate Friday - a “frankenstein looking thing” that “NOBODY should support,” you know the map is indefensible.

Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

05/27/2026

Southern Democratic leaders from Louisiana, Texas, Georgia and Mississippi stood together at the Louisiana State Capitol with a clear warning: Louisiana’s redistricting fight is bigger than one map, one bill, or one state.

With SB 121 moving through the Legislature after Louisiana v. Callais, lawmakers said the effort to redraw Louisiana’s congressional districts could become part of a broader Southern push to reduce Black voting power and lock in Republican control.

05/27/2026

Louisiana Republicans are not just redrawing lines on a map. They are trying to reshape who gets heard, who gets ignored, and who gets power.

Democratic leaders from across the South gathered in Baton Rouge to warn that SB 121 could become a model for reducing Black representation across the region.

The fight over Louisiana’s congressional map is now a Southern voting-rights fight.

Democratic lawmakers from Louisiana, Texas, Georgia and Mississippi gathered at the Louisiana State Capitol on Wednesday to warn that Louisiana’s latest congressional redistricting fight is not an isolated state issue, but part of a broader regional effort to roll back Black voting power and Democ...

05/27/2026

ICYMI: We’re late getting this Senate forum posted, but the timing still matters.

With Jamie Davis and Gary Crockett headed into the Democratic runoff for U.S. Senate, this forum gives voters another chance to compare the two candidates side by side.

They discussed voting rights, rural hospitals, Medicaid, data centers, utility costs, agriculture, broadband, wages, gun violence and the cost of living in Louisiana.

Watch the full Senate portion here:

05/26/2026

State Sen. Jay Morris helped advance one of the biggest corporate development projects in Louisiana history.

Then he and his business partners sold land tied to the power infrastructure needed to make it work.

A new investigation into Meta’s massive Hyperion data center in raises serious ethics questions about land deals, public subsidies, utility approvals and whether Louisiana’s political class has once again confused public office with private opportunity.

A Floodlight investigation says the Louisiana senator backed key pieces of the massive data center deal while holding and expanding private land interests around the project.

05/20/2026

Jamie Davis’ first-place finish Saturday night was not a mystery.

He won because he was best positioned for the Democratic electorate that actually showed up: older, heavily Black, institutionally connected, and far less moved by the insider signals that campaigns often mistake for momentum.

Nick Albares had endorsements, polish, and strong forum performances. Gary Crockett had support few insiders seemed to see coming. But Davis had the clearest connection to the base voters who still dominate Louisiana Democratic primaries.

Now Davis and Crockett are headed to a June 27 runoff.

Jamie Davis did not win the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate outright Saturday night. But he did win the first round decisively. And the reason is not especially mysterious. Davis won because he was best positioned for the Democratic electorate that actually showed up: older, heavily Black, dee...