By: Julie O’Donoghue | Louisiana Illuminator
Gov. Jeff Landry has set election dates for seats on the Louisiana Supreme Court and state school board. Both districts are based on the north shore and were vacated earlier this month.
The first primary for both races will be held May 16. A primary runoff, if necessary, will be June 27, and the general election will be Nov. 3. The races will appear on the same ballots as the high profile U.S. Senate and Public Service Commission races taking place in 2026.
Voters will have to pick a new associate justice for District 1 on the Louisiana Supreme Court, which includes all or parts of Livingston, Orleans, St. Bernard, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa and Washington parishes.
They will also be picking a new District 1 member of the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, which includes all or parts of Jefferson, Orleans, St. Tammany and Tangipahoa parishes.
The special elections are necessary because the officeholders were selected for federal positions earlier this month and resigned from their Louisiana posts shortly before Christmas.
U.S. senators confirmed Judge Will Crain, R-Madisonville, on Dec. 9 to a lifetime appointment on the U.S. Court of the Eastern District of Louisiana. He stepped down from the Louisiana Supreme Court Dec. 23. His elected replacement will serve out the remainder of his term ending in 2030.
The Senate also confirmed BESE member Paul Hollis, R-Mandeville, as the new director of the U.S. Mint for a five-year term Dec. 18. Hollis stepped down from the state school board Dec. 19, and his replacement will serve out the rest of his term ending in 2028.
Landry set the special election dates through proclamations signed Dec. 23 that were published as public notices Tuesday.
Both special elections will be held using Louisiana’s new semi-closed primary election system.
For decades, Louisiana has mostly used an election process that doesn’t limit voter participation in primary elections based on political party. But Landry and lawmakers have put a new, more restrictive election system in place for state Supreme Court, state school board, Public Service Commission and congressional races.
For those offices, Republican and Democratic candidates will run in primaries only featuring candidates from their respective political parties. Voters who register as Republican or Democrat will also only be able to participate in a primary election of their chosen party.
Voters who are not registered with a party – sometimes referred to as “independent” voters – will be able to vote in either the Republican or Democratic primary, but not both. Voters registered with a political party that is not Democrat or Republican will not be able to participate in a primary election at all.
The races subjected to semi-closed party primaries could also involve a maximum of three rounds of voting instead of the traditional two maximum rounds.
For example, voters will pick candidates for the open Supreme Court and state school board seats during an initial round of primaries May 16. If no candidates receive more than 50% of the votes in those primaries, then runoff primaries between the top two vote-getting candidates in each party primary election would be held June 27.
The Republican and Democrat who emerge from the primary battles would then run against each other in the general election Nov. 3. Other candidates who are independent or members of minor political parties may also be on the ballot, but the new semi-closed primary election system makes it harder to do so.
Republicans and Democrats running for offices under the new semi-closed primary system can pay a filing fee to sign up as candidates for those elections. Everyone else must gather signatures in order to become a candidate on the ballot.
For example, candidates not from a major political party who run for the open Supreme Court and school board seats would typically have to gather 1,000 signatures from district voters who are not registered Democrats or Republicans over a three-month period.
But given the compressed timeline for these special elections, Landry has reduced the signature requirement.
Those wishing to qualify for the Supreme Court and state school board seats will only have to gather 150 signatures from voters who are not Democrats or Republicans by Jan. 30 to secure a ballot spot.