Democratic Representative Cleo Fields announced Tuesday he will not seek re-election to Congress following a Supreme Court ruling and new congressional map that reshaped his district in Republicans' favor.
Fields said in a statement he will instead run to fill the unexpired term for the state Senate in Louisiana's 14th District, saying his calling to serve is better put to use back home than in Washington.
The decision comes after the Supreme Court ruled in Louisiana v. Callais that the 6th Congressional District was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, prompting state lawmakers to approve new lines that reduced the state to one majority-Black district and five Republican-favored districts.
Fields is seeking to return to the state Senate seat he held before winning election to Congress in 2024. State Senator Larry Selders won a 2025 special election to fill the vacancy Fields left, but his death earlier this month opened the seat once again.
The National Republican Congressional Committee characterized the announcement as Fields "jumping ship" shortly after adding Louisiana's 6th Congressional District to its target list. The committee noted President Donald Trump carried the newly drawn district by 32.1 points in 2024.
Fields has had a long career in elected office, first winning election to the Louisiana State Senate in 1987. He ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1990 before winning in 1992, during which time he also mounted an unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign.
After serving two terms in Congress, Fields returned to the state senate for a decade before winning election back to Congress in 2024. That victory followed a prior redistricting effort that created a second majority-Black district.
The current redistricting fight dates back to the state's post-2020 census map, which included one majority-Black congressional district. A federal court found that map likely violated the Voting Rights Act and ordered the state to add a second majority-Black district.
Louisiana lawmakers adopted a 2024 map that turned Fields' 6th Congressional District into a second majority-Black seat favorable to Democrats. The Supreme Court later ruled that district was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.
State lawmakers then approved new congressional lines that reduced Louisiana back to one majority-Black district and five districts favoring Republicans, fundamentally altering the political landscape for the 2026 election cycle.
