On the first day of the special session, the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee approved legislation to push back qualifying and the primary election dates for the 2026 federal elections by one month. Black lawmakers oppose the move — Shreveport Senator Sam Jenkins told the bill’s author, Caleb Kleinpeter from Port Allen, that the legislature should not be changing election laws this close to the election.
Sam Jenkins: “Why are we ignoring a law?”
Caleb Kleinpeter: “We change laws all the time.”
Qualifying for the party primaries is currently scheduled for January, and the primary elections are set for April and May. Kleinpeter’s bill, which now heads to the Senate floor for another vote, pushes qualifying back to February and the closed party primary would be in May and the run-off in June. Jenkins says the legislature should not change the election procedure when the elections are months away.
Jenkins: “That could negatively impact a citizen’s right to vote. You would agree with that, right?”
Kleinpeter: “We’re not affecting that. We’re actually given them more time to vote on this one. We’re pushing the election back.”
Republican lawmakers are looking to push the election back, because it’s possible the U.S. Supreme Court will rule the state’s current congressional map as unconstitutional. Jenkins believes it’s premature for Louisiana to act, since the nation’s highest court has not ordered Louisiana to move its election dates back, and delaying the elections could influence the Supreme Court’s decision. Here’s Kleinpeter’s response:
“All we’re doing is pushing our elections back. It’s all we’re doing. We’re not in here to draw a map. All we are here to do is to push the election back one month. That’s it,” Kleinpeter said.
