Legislature delays primary election, ends special session

Published: October 29, 2025

By: Gracie Thomas, Kylah Babin, Avery White and Sheridan White, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE — The state Legislature ended the special session on Wednesday by voting to delay the statewide primary election next year for one month while the U.S. Supreme Court considers the legality of the state’s two so-called majority-minority congressional districts.

The final vote came in the state House, where lawmakers cleared the election delay in a 73-29 vote, which broke along similar lines with the state Senate in its 27-9 vote on Saturday. The vote in both houses reflected hard opposition from Black lawmakers who contended that the change is premature and will result in confusion and chaos among voters.

This legislation will move the spring primary election for Republicans and Democrats running in a party primary to May 16 from April 18. The voting date for five state constitutional amendments is also delayed about a month. A second party primary, or runoff, if needed, will occur on June 27 instead of May 30. Candidate qualifying dates were pushed back as well, and signatures on nominating petitions from Sept. 16 remain valid.

Read more at American Press.