Louisiana’s 2nd congressional district holds much of New Orleans and follows the Mississippi River up to North Baton Rouge. Democrat Cedric Richmond of New Orleans currently represents the district in Washington, D.C. and is running to keep it in the November election.
Up against Richmond is term-limited Baton Rouge Mayor-President Kip Holden (D).
Holden says he will run “basically on what I’ve been able to do for Baton Rouge, the national rankings we’ve brought to Baton Rouge.”
The 2nd district is a majority-minority district, and is where the shooting of Alton Sterling occurred three weeks ago. Richmond says at a time like this, the Mayor shouldn’t be distracted by a campaign.
“He has every right to run and I welcome him to the race," but, he says, "if he’s serious about running for Congress, I think he should resign so that Baton Rouge can have somebody who’s focusing 100% of their time on making sure our police officers are safe, making sure tensions are eased and make sure that the difficult conversations we need to have in the community are going forward.”
Richmond has represented the 2nd district since 2011. According to Holden, his presence hasn’t been felt.
“He’s mainly been in the lost-and-found section. I don’t think there’s any one thing you can point that he’s done, even in Baton Rouge," says Holden.
Holden has also been accused of being absent following the death of Sterling and the tensions it generated in the capital city. Part of the Representative’s job, says Richmond, will be to initiate conversations to ease those pains.
“It’s not going to be an easy conversation," he says, "and it’s a very complicated one. But, we have to initiate it so we can get closer to solutions.”
Two other candidates will appear on the ballot for the 2nd district. Kenneth Cutno, a Democrat, and Samuel Davenport, a Libertarian. Both are from New Orleans.