Louisiana's 2nd Congressional District election, 2026

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Louisiana's 2nd Congressional District
General election
Election details
Filing deadline: February 13, 2026
Primary: May 16, 2026 Primary runoff: June 27, 2026 General: November 3, 2026
How to vote
Poll times: 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voting in Louisiana
Race ratings
Cook Political Report: Solid Democratic DDHQ and The Hill: Pending Inside Elections: Solid Democratic Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Democratic
Ballotpedia analysis
U.S. Senate battlegrounds U.S. House battlegrounds Federal and state primary competitiveness Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2026
See also
Louisiana's 2nd Congressional District U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th • 6th Louisiana elections, 2026 U.S. Congress elections, 2026 U.S. Senate elections, 2026 U.S. House elections, 2026 Alabama U.S. House racesAlaska U.S. House raceArizona U.S. House racesArkansas U.S. House racesCalifornia U.S. House racesColorado U.S. House racesConnecticut U.S. House racesDelaware U.S. House raceFlorida U.S. House racesGeorgia U.S. House racesHawaii U.S. House racesIdaho U.S. House racesIllinois U.S. House racesIndiana U.S. House racesIowa U.S. House racesKansas U.S. House racesKentucky U.S. House racesLouisiana U.S. House racesMaine U.S. House racesMaryland U.S. House racesMassachusetts U.S. House racesMichigan U.S. House racesMinnesota U.S. House racesMississippi U.S. House racesMissouri U.S. House racesMontana U.S. House racesNebraska U.S. House racesNevada U.S. House racesNew Hampshire U.S. House racesNew Jersey U.S. House racesNew Mexico U.S. House racesNew York U.S. House racesNorth Carolina U.S. House racesNorth Dakota U.S. House raceOhio U.S. House racesOklahoma U.S. House racesOregon U.S. House racesPennsylvania U.S. House racesRhode Island U.S. House racesSouth Carolina U.S. House racesSouth Dakota U.S. House raceTennessee U.S. House racesTexas U.S. House racesUtah U.S. House racesVermont U.S. House raceVirginia U.S. House racesWashington U.S. House racesWest Virginia U.S. House racesWisconsin U.S. House racesWyoming U.S. House raceSubmit

All U.S. House districts, including the 2nd Congressional District of Louisiana, are holding elections in 2026. The general election is November 3, 2026. To learn more about other elections on the ballot, click here.

Candidates and election results

Note: The following list includes official candidates only. Ballotpedia defines official candidates as people who:

• Register with a federal or state campaign finance agency before the candidate filing deadline
• Appear on candidate lists released by government election agencies

Note: At this time, Ballotpedia is combining all declared candidates for this election into one list under a general election heading. As primary election dates are published, this information will be updated to separate general election candidates from primary candidates as appropriate.

Louisiana elections use the majority-vote system. All candidates compete in the same primary, and a candidate can win the election outright by receiving more than 50 percent of the vote. If no candidate does, the top two vote recipients from the primary advance to the general election, regardless of their partisan affiliation.

General election

The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.

General election for U.S. House Louisiana District 2

Incumbent Troy Carter and Ray Smith are running in the general election for U.S. House Louisiana District 2 on November 3, 2026.

		Candidate
		Troy Carter (D)
		Ray Smith (R)

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Candidate profiles

This section includes candidate profiles that may be created in one of two ways: either the candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, or Ballotpedia staff may compile a profile based on campaign websites, advertisements, and public statements after identifying the candidate as noteworthy. For more on how we select candidates to include, click here.

Ray Smith

Party: Republican Party

Incumbent: No

Political Office: None

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Key Messages

To read this candidate's full survey responses, click here.

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Keep Americans safe. It's the primary goal of the federal government and involves removing undocumented migrants and working with state and local officials to keep our communities safe and secure.

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Reduce government spending and prioritize needs while eliminating unnecessary positions and waste.

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End wokeness and focus on American values. Treat everyone equally and provide appropriate resources so that every American citizen can succeed.

Voting information

See also: Voting in Louisiana

Ballotpedia will publish the dates and deadlines related to this election as they are made available.

Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. The section below shows responses from candidates in this race who completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Survey responses from candidates in this race

Click on a candidate's name to visit their Ballotpedia page.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Expand all | Collapse all

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Ray Smith (R)

Keep Americans safe. It's the primary goal of the federal government and involves removing undocumented migrants and working with state and local officials to keep our communities safe and secure.

Reduce government spending and prioritize needs while eliminating unnecessary positions and waste.

End wokeness and focus on American values. Treat everyone equally and provide appropriate resources so that every American citizen can succeed.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Ray Smith (R)

Reducing crime

You can ask candidates in this race to fill out the survey by clicking their names below:

• Troy Carter

Campaign finance

Name	Party	Receipts*	Disbursements**	Cash on hand	Date
Troy Carter	Democratic Party	$690,586	$677,220	$522,775	As of September 30, 2025
Ray Smith	Republican Party	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2026. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). * According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." ** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election. *** Candidate either did not report any receipts or disbursements to the FEC, or Ballotpedia did not find an FEC candidate ID.

General election race ratings

See also: Race rating definitions and methods

Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:

• Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
• Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
• Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.
• Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.

Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.

Race ratings: Louisiana's 2nd Congressional District election, 2026
Race tracker	Race ratings
	12/23/2025	12/16/2025	12/9/2025	12/2/2025
The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic
Decision Desk HQ and The Hill	Pending	Pending	Pending	Pending
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball	Safe Democratic	Safe Democratic	Safe Democratic	Safe Democratic
Note: Ballotpedia reviews external race ratings every week throughout the election season and posts weekly updates even if the media outlets have not revised their ratings during that week.

Ballot access

The table below details filing requirements for U.S. House candidates in Louisiana in the 2026 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Louisiana, click here.

Filing requirements for U.S. House candidates, 2026
State	Office	Party	Signatures required	Filing fee	Filing deadline	Source
Louisiana	U.S. House	Democratic or Republican	750	$1,500	2/13/2026	Source
Louisiana	U.S. House	Unaffiliated	750	N/A	2/13/2026	Source

District history

The section below details election results for this office in elections dating back to 2020.

• 2024
• 2022
• 2021
• 2020

Louisiana elections use the majority-vote system. All candidates compete in the same primary, and a candidate can win the election outright by receiving more than 50 percent of the vote. If no candidate does, the top two vote recipients from the primary advance to the general election, regardless of their partisan affiliation.

General election

The general election scheduled for December 7, 2024, was canceled.

Nonpartisan primary

Nonpartisan primary election for U.S. House Louisiana District 2

Incumbent Troy Carter (D) won election outright against Christy Lynch (R), Devin Lance Graham (R), Devin Davis (D), and Shondrell Perrilloux (R) in the primary for U.S. House Louisiana District 2 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Troy Carter (D)	60.3	184,009
		Christy Lynch (R)	13.6	41,641
		Devin Lance Graham (R)	12.8	39,174
		Devin Davis (D)	10.6	32,482
		Shondrell Perrilloux (R)	2.6	7,878

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 305,184
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Louisiana elections use the majority-vote system. All candidates compete in the same primary, and a candidate can win the election outright by receiving more than 50 percent of the vote. If no candidate does, the top two vote recipients from the primary advance to the general election, regardless of their partisan affiliation.

General election

The general election scheduled for December 10, 2022, was canceled.

Nonpartisan primary

Nonpartisan primary election for U.S. House Louisiana District 2

Incumbent Troy Carter (D) won election outright against Dan Lux (R) in the primary for U.S. House Louisiana District 2 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Troy Carter (D)	77.1	158,120
		Dan Lux (R)	22.9	46,927

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 205,047
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Louisiana elections use the majority-vote system. All candidates compete in the same primary, and a candidate can win the election outright by receiving more than 50 percent of the vote. If no candidate does, the top two vote recipients from the primary advance to the general election, regardless of their partisan affiliation.

General election

Special general election for U.S. House Louisiana District 2

Troy Carter (D) defeated Karen Peterson (D) in the special general election for U.S. House Louisiana District 2 on April 24, 2021.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Troy Carter (D)	55.2	48,513
		Karen Peterson (D)	44.8	39,297

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 87,810
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Nonpartisan primary

Special Nonpartisan primary election for U.S. House Louisiana District 2

The following candidates ran in the special primary for U.S. House Louisiana District 2 on March 20, 2021.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Troy Carter (D)	36.4	34,402
✔		Karen Peterson (D)	22.9	21,673
		Gary Chambers (D)	21.3	20,163
		Claston Bernard (R)	9.8	9,237
		Chelsea Ardoin (R)	3.4	3,218
		Greg Lirette (R)	2.5	2,349
	Submit photo	Sheldon Vincent Sr. (R)	0.8	754
		Desiree Ontiveros (D)	0.7	699
		Belden Batiste (Independent)	0.6	598
	Submit photo	Harold John (D)	0.4	403
		Mindy McConnell (L)	0.3	323
		J. Christopher Johnson (D)	0.3	288
	Submit photo	Jenette Porter (D)	0.3	244
	Submit photo	Lloyd Kelly (D)	0.1	122
		Brandon Jolicoeur (Independent)	0.1	94

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 94,567
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Louisiana elections use the majority-vote system. All candidates compete in the same primary, and a candidate can win the election outright by receiving more than 50 percent of the vote. If no candidate does, the top two vote recipients from the primary advance to the general election, regardless of their partisan affiliation.

General election

The general election scheduled for December 5, 2020, was canceled.

Nonpartisan primary

Nonpartisan primary election for U.S. House Louisiana District 2

The following candidates ran in the primary for U.S. House Louisiana District 2 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Cedric Richmond (D)	63.6	201,636
		David Schilling (R)	15.0	47,575
	Submit photo	Glenn Harris (D)	10.6	33,684
	Submit photo	Sheldon Vincent Sr. (R)	4.9	15,565
		Belden Batiste (Independent)	3.9	12,268
		Colby James (Independent)	2.0	6,254

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 316,982
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

District analysis

Click the tabs below to view information about voter composition, past elections, and demographics in both the district and the state.

• District map - A map of the district in place for the election.
• Competitiveness - Information about the competitiveness of 2026 U.S. House elections in the state.
• Presidential elections - Information about presidential elections in the district and the state.
• State party control - The partisan makeup of the state's congressional delegation and state government.

• District map
• Competitiveness
• Presidential elections
• State party control

Below is the district map in place for this election. Click the map below to enlarge it.

See also: Primary election competitiveness in state and federal government, 2026

Information about competitiveness will be added here as it becomes available.

Partisan Voter Index

See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index

Heading into the 2026 elections, based on results from the 2024 and 2020 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district is D+17. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 17 percentage points more Democratic than the national average. This made Louisiana's 2nd the 86th most Democratic district nationally.

2020 presidential election results

The table below shows what the vote in the 2024 presidential election was in this district. The presidential election data was compiled by The Downballot.

2024 presidential results in Louisiana's 2nd Congressional District

Kamala Harris	Donald Trump
65.0%	33.0%

Presidential voting history

See also: Presidential election in Louisiana, 2024

Louisiana presidential election results (1900-2024)

• 17 Democratic wins
• 13 Republican wins
• 2 other wins

Year	1900	1904	1908	1912	1916	1920	1924	1928	1932	1936	1940	1944	1948	1952	1956	1960	1964	1968	1972	1976	1980	1984	1988	1992	1996	2000	2004	2008	2012	2016	2020	2024
Winning Party	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	SR	D	R	D	R	AI	R	D	R	R	R	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R

See also: Party control of Louisiana state government

Congressional delegation

The table below displays the partisan composition of Louisiana's congressional delegation as of October 2025.

Congressional Partisan Breakdown from Louisiana
Party	U.S. Senate	U.S. House	Total
Democratic	0	2	2
Republican	2	4	6
Independent	0	0	0
Vacancies	0	0	0
Total	2	6	8

State executive

The table below displays the officeholders in Louisiana's top four state executive offices as of October 2025.

State executive officials in Louisiana, October 2025

Office	Officeholder
Governor	Jeff Landry
Lieutenant Governor	Billy Nungesser
Secretary of State	Nancy Landry
Attorney General	Liz Murrill

State legislature

Louisiana State Senate

Party		As of October 2025
	Democratic Party	11
	Republican Party	28
	Other	0
	Vacancies	0
Total		39

Louisiana House of Representatives

Party		As of October 2025
	Democratic Party	32
	Republican Party	73
	Other	0
	Vacancies	0
Total		105

Trifecta control

Louisiana Party Control: 1992-2025
Eight years of Democratic trifectas  •  Seven years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25
Governor	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R
Senate	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R
House	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R

See also

Louisiana	2026 primaries	2026 U.S. Congress elections
Louisiana congressional delegation Voting in Louisiana Louisiana elections: 2026 • 2025 • 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018	Democratic primary battlegrounds Republican primary battlegrounds U.S. Senate Democratic primaries U.S. Senate Republican primaries U.S. House Democratic primaries U.S. House Republican primaries	U.S. Congress elections U.S. Senate elections U.S. House elections Special elections Ballot access

External links

• Search Google News for this topic

Footnotes

[show]

Louisiana's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Bill Cassidy (R)

John Kennedy (R)

Representatives

District 1

Steve Scalise (R)

District 2

Troy Carter (D)

District 3

Clay Higgins (R)

District 4

Mike Johnson (R)

District 5

Julia Letlow (R)

District 6

Cleo Fields (D)

Republican Party (6)

Democratic Party (2)

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Election information

Ballot access for major and minor party candidates • List of candidates running for election • List of congressional challengers • Retiring senators • Retiring representatives

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Super PACs/Organizations

American Bridge 21st Century • American Crossroads • American Unity PAC • Campaign for Primary Accountability • Club for Growth Action • Congressional Leadership Fund • Cooperative of American Physicians IE Committee• Crossroads Generation • Ending Spending Action Fund • Endorse Liberty • Fair Share Action • FreedomWorks for America • Government Integrity Fund • House Majority PAC • Independence USA Fund • League of Conservation Voters • Liberty for All PAC • Majority PAC • National Association of Realtors • NEA Advocacy Fund • Now or Never PAC • Planned Parenthood Votes • Ready for Hillary • Republicans for a Prosperous America • Restore America's Voice PAC • SEIU Pea-Federal • Women Vote!

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