Rep. Cleo Fields, D-La., announced Tuesday that he will not seek re-election to a second consecutive term in the House of Representatives. His decision follows a Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that declared Louisiana's congressional map unconstitutional because it lacked a second majority-black district.
Fields, 63, stated that after prayer and reflection, he decided not to run for Congress in the 6th District or any other Louisiana district. He plans instead to run for the state Senate, where he previously served for nearly two decades across three separate tenures.
The Louisiana legislature, controlled by Republicans, redrew the congressional map in May, subsequent to the Supreme Court's April 29 decision. The court found that the state had violated the 14th Amendment by not creating an additional majority-black district.
The redrawn map shifts Fields' former district to include more predominantly white areas, including those surrounding the state capital of Baton Rouge. His previous district encompassed significant portions of the cities of Lafayette and Shreveport.
Fields, who also served in Congress between 1993 and 1997, is the only Democrat currently running to represent the newly configured 6th District. Five Republicans are competing for the seat, with state Sen. Rick Edmonds among them.
Due to the late finalization of the Louisiana map, the state's November 3 House elections will function as primaries. Candidates must secure over 50% of the vote to avoid top-two runoffs, which are scheduled for December 12.
Fields is one of 59 House members—36 Republicans and 23 Democrats—who have announced they will not seek re-election this cycle, marking the highest number of departures for any cycle dating back to at least 2012.