Troy Carter wins race to fill Cedric Richmond’s Louisiana House seat

Troy Carter, the minority leader of the Louisiana state Senate, won the race on Saturday to serve out the remainder of former Rep. Cedric Richmond’s (D-La.) term in the House, defeating fellow Democratic state Sen. Karen Carter Peterson in a runoff election.

The Associated Press called the race for Carter at 9:31 p.m. CTD. 

BREAKING: Democrat Troy Carter wins election to U.S. House in Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District. #APracecall at 9:31 p.m. CDT. #Election2021 #LAelection

— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) April 25, 2021 

Carter emerged as the top vote-getter in an all-party election in Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District last month, garnering about 36 percent of the vote but falling short of the 50 percent threshold needed to win the race outright. 

Peterson finished the all-party election in second place, with just shy of 23 percent of the vote. Another Democrat, Gary Chambers, narrowly trailed Peterson with about 21 percent of the vote.

Since then, Carter and Peterson have waged what has become a familiar battle in Democratic politics. 

Carter staked out a more establishment-aligned lane in the race, scoring endorsements from the likes of Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) and Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), while Peterson courted progressives, winning the support of liberal stars such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). 

Louisiana’s 2nd District, which encompasses almost all of New Orleans and stretches to Baton Rouge, was represented by Richmond from 2011 until he stepped down in January to become the director of the White House Office of Public Engagement under President Biden.

Despite Richmond’s resignation, party control of his seat was never in doubt. Biden carried the district in 2020 by a more than 50-point margin, while Richmond won reelection by a nearly 49-point margin. 

Republican Claston Bernard finished fourth in the March all-party election for Richmond’s seat with just under 10 percent of the vote.