Louisiana Supreme Court elections

There are seven justices on the Louisiana Supreme Court. For more information about these elections, visit the Louisiana judicial elections page.

Judicial selection

See also: Judicial selection in Louisiana

The seven justices on the Louisiana Supreme Court are selected through partisan elections. Justices are elected to 10-year terms, and must face re-election if they wish to serve again.^[1]

Unlike most states, supreme court justices in Louisiana are elected to represent specific districts. The seven justices are divided evenly among seven supreme court districts (not to be confused with the 42 divisions of the district courts) and are voted into office by the residents of their respective regions.^[2] Only the states of Illinois, Kentucky, and Mississippi use a similar system.

Qualifications

To serve on this court, a judge must be:

licensed to practice law in the state for at least ten years;
a resident of the district representing for at least one year;
under the age of 70 at the time of election (judges who turn 70 in office may serve until their term expires)^[1]^[3]

Chief justice

The chief justice is the justice on the court with the most seniority. When he or she retires, the justice with the next most seniority becomes chief justice.^[1]

Vacancies

See also: How vacancies are filled in state supreme courts

Per Article V of the Louisiana Constitution, midterm vacancies are to be temporarily filled by the remaining members of the supreme court. Within one year of the opening, a special election (called by the governor, preferably on the date of a preexisting gubernatorial or congressional election) is to be held. If the supreme court has appointed a successor, that appointee may not run for the seat in the special election.^[1]^[4] The justice elected at the special election will serve the remainder of the unexpired term.^[5]^[6]

The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.

Elections

Louisiana Supreme Court 7th District

Beginning in the 2026 elections, Louisiana elections for U.S. Congress, the Louisiana Supreme Court, the Public Service Commission, and the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education use a closed partisan primary and primary runoff system. Candidates for those offices no longer run in majority-vote system primaries.

There are no official candidates yet for this election.

Louisiana Supreme Court 5th District

Beginning in the 2026 elections, Louisiana elections for U.S. Congress, the Louisiana Supreme Court, the Public Service Commission, and the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education use a closed partisan primary and primary runoff system. Candidates for those offices no longer run in majority-vote system primaries.

There are no official candidates yet for this election.

Beginning in the 2026 elections, Louisiana elections for U.S. Congress, the Louisiana Supreme Court, the Public Service Commission, and the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education use a closed partisan primary and primary runoff system. Candidates for those offices no longer run in majority-vote system primaries.

Louisiana Supreme Court 1st District

General election

The primary will occur on May 16, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.

The candidate list in this election may not be complete.

Republican primary

The candidate list in this election may not be complete.

Special Republican primary for Louisiana Supreme Court 1st District

William H. Burris (R) and Blair Downing Edwards (R) are running in the special Republican primary for Louisiana Supreme Court 1st District on May 16, 2026.

		Candidate
		William H. Burris
		Blair Downing Edwards

	There are no incumbents in this race.
= 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 Supreme Court 3rd District

General election

The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.

The candidate list in this election may not be complete.

General election for Louisiana Supreme Court 3rd District

Incumbent Cade Cole (R) is running in the general election for Louisiana Supreme Court 3rd District on November 3, 2026.

		Candidate
		Cade Cole (R)

	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.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary

The Republican primary scheduled for May 16, 2026, was canceled. Incumbent Cade Cole (R) advanced from the Republican primary for Louisiana Supreme Court 3rd District without appearing on the ballot.

Louisiana Supreme Court 4th District

General election

The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.

The candidate list in this election may not be complete.

General election for Louisiana Supreme Court 4th District

Incumbent Jay B. McCallum (R) is running in the general election for Louisiana Supreme Court 4th District on November 3, 2026.

		Candidate
		Jay B. McCallum (R)

	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.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary

The Republican primary scheduled for May 16, 2026, was canceled. Incumbent Jay B. McCallum (R) advanced from the Republican primary for Louisiana Supreme Court 4th District without appearing on the ballot.

Louisiana Supreme Court 3rd District

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 May 3, 2025, was canceled.

Nonpartisan primary

The primary scheduled for March 29, 2025, was canceled. Cade Cole (R) won election in the special primary for Louisiana Supreme Court 3rd District without appearing on the ballot.

Louisiana Supreme Court 2nd District

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

The primary scheduled for November 5, 2024, was canceled. John Guidry (D) won election in the primary for Louisiana Supreme Court 2nd District without appearing on the ballot.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Leslie Chambers (D)
Marcus Hunter (D)

Louisiana Supreme Court 6th District

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

The primary scheduled for November 8, 2022, was canceled. Incumbent John L. Weimer (Independent) won election in the primary for Louisiana Supreme Court 6th District without appearing on the ballot.

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.

Louisiana Supreme Court 4th District

General election

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

Nonpartisan primary

Special Nonpartisan primary election for Louisiana Supreme Court 4th District

Jay B. McCallum (R) won election outright against Shannon J. Gremillion (R) in the special primary for Louisiana Supreme Court 4th District on November 3, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Jay B. McCallum (R)	56.7	122,458
	Shannon J. Gremillion (R)	43.3	93,569

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 216,027
= 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.