With the second inauguration of Republican President Donald Trump, Louisiana enters an unprecedented period that has the potential for maximal policy change from an eccentric past that still inflicts woes on the state to this day.
With Trump taking the executive branch helm, after at the start of the month the GOP taking full control of Congress, it became the first time since 1993 that one political party held all of the levers of power in both Louisiana and the federal government. Then, it was Democrats, which historically had not been unusual. As Louisiana had its first Republican governor only starting in 1980, and Republicans until 32 years ago had just a handful of members in the Legislature – never mind ever coming close to a majority – in roughly half of the years from the birth of the modern party system not long before the Civil War to then the congruence had been in place whenever Democrats controlled the White House and Congress.
But from then until now, with GOP ascendancy in Louisiana that has had one of its own in the Governor’s Mansion for 18 of those 32 years and since 2011 control of the Legislature, the various shifts in power at the national level prevented the congruence – until today. The historic part, of course, is that now it’s Republicans rather than Democrats who have all of the control.
What’s more, in terms of power relations at both levels it is the most one-sided in the state’s history. Republicans hold all elected single executive offices and of the plenary executives 12 of 16 spots with majorities on each of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and Public Service Commission. Impressive, but actually Democrats in the middle 1970s had a complete stranglehold on these offices, as well as almost unanimous majorities in the Legislature while today the GOP has bare supermajorities.
However, the real value-added comes at the federal level. The seniority and power wielded by the state’s two GOP senators is fair-to-middling compared to other states, but Louisiana has unprecedented power in the House of Representatives with Republicans Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise holding down the top two chamber offices, in a first time ever for any state.
Policy payoffs will resonate for Louisiana. The most obvious and immediate example is Trump’s reversal of his predecessor Democrat former Pres. Joe Biden’s moratorium on advancing liquified natural gas projects that will create a substantial number of jobs and tax revenues across the state for extractors and especially in LNG processing and shipping in southwest Louisiana.
Others less obviously impactful will follow. It will become easier with Trump Administration cooperation for the GOP Gov. Jeff Landry Administration and GOP-led Legislature to reprogram federal grants, such as with all the inflationary climate-alarmist pork doled under various laws under Biden, to more useful purposes or not spending it at all and saving the state money it would have to put up to qualify for receipt of those tax dollars, as well as having the promise of federal legislation that will facilitate Republican agendas at the state level. It's also helpful that Landry has friendships with the Trump family and that Johnson has a growing relationship with Trump that should move the state, and particularly the northwestern Louisiana-based Fourth District, to the head of the line when it comes to catering to the interests of its governing Republicans.
And this redirection is long overdue. Burdened by its liberal populist past emphasizing wealth redistribution and state government meddling geared to pleasing insiders and certain special interests, the state has had difficulty in breaking free from this as revanchist elements (one being governor little more than a year ago) seek to obstruct the transition that has cost it population, jobs, quality of life, and economic development. Taking advantage of this favorable correlation of forces can’t happen quickly enough.
These conditions could change on a dime if in 2026 elections Democrats manage to snare back majorities in either congressional chamber, but at least for two years an amazing opportunity exists for the Louisiana’s GOP to pursue conservative policy objectives that can help remake and kickstart the state.
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