KEY TAKEAWAYS: Lawmakers filed bills to remove BESE races from Louisiana’s new closed primary system before it is fully implemented. Officials estimate running a separate BESE closed primary could cost the state at least $6 million. Louisiana begins using closed party primaries May 16 for se lect races, marking a major shift from the jungle primary. Some state leaders expect the Legislature may roll back the closed primary system after the 2026 election cycle.   Two state lawmakers have filed legislation to alter Louisiana’s new party primaries, even though the first election using them hasn’t taken place yet. Sen. Alan Seabaugh, R-Shreveport, and Rep. Mike Bayham, R-Chalmette, drafted similar bills to remove the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education from the new party primaries in 2027. Their proposals will be up for debate in the Louisiana Legislature‘s lawmaking session that starts Monday. Under current law, the state school board seats are the only offices requiring a closed party primary on the ballot next year. All 2027 races, including those for governor, attorney general and the legislature, would be decided using Louisiana’s traditional jungle primary. Holding a closed primary for just the BESE offices alongside the jungle primary next year would cost the state at least $6 million more in election expenses, Louisiana Secretary of State Nancy Landry said in an interview last month. “It would be a significant expense,” Seabaugh said. “I don’t think it makes sense for one office.” Bayham echoed Seabaugh’s sentiment, saying he filed his bill to save the state money. Neither legislators’ proposal would affect the BESE special election this year. There is a closed Republican primary for the BESE District 1 seat on May 16 that will go forward as scheduled regardless of the legislation’s outcome. Louisiana has shifted a handful of its elections to a more limited, partisan nominating process starting with the May 16 election. At the urging of Gov. Jeff Landry, state lawmakers adopted a closed party primary system for not only BESE elections but also the U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, Public Service Commission and Louisiana Supreme Court. Under the closed primary system, voters registered as Republicans or Democrats will only be able to vote in the primary that aligns with their party in the May 16 election and potential June 27 runoff. Voters with no party alignment can choose whether they vote in the Republican or Democratic primary, but they have to stay with that party for all the races on the ballot and can’t switch for the potential June 27 runoff. Voters who are registered with a minor political party won’t be able to vote in the primary elections on May 16 or June 27 at all. Effective Aug. 1, 2025, Louisiana ended its official recognition of the Independent Party, affecting roughly 150,000 voters. As of this month, more than 835,000 voters in Louisiana, nearly 30% of the state’s total, are politically unaffiliated or members of a party other than Democrat or Republican, according to the Secretary of State. The switch to party primaries is a radical change for Louisiana’s election system. In a jungle primary, registered voters, regardless of their party affiliation, are able to pick from all the candidates running in the election, regardless of the candidate’s or voter’s party affiliation. Landry initially pushed to include far more elected offices in the closed party primary system, including governor and all legislative seats. But state lawmakers, particularly in the Senate, were uncomfortable with that proposal. The compromise between the governor and legislators involved placing a few offices into the closed party primary initially. “There were just some questions and concerns, and it was made very clear that, in order to pass the bill, in order to start this party primary system, that’s what the senators wanted,” said Julie Emerson, the Republican former state representative from Carencro who authored the closed primary legislation. She now works as the governor’s chief of staff. “I think people will start getting used to it, and hopefully we can add more [offices] as it goes down the road,” Emerson said. But Senate President Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, said he expects legislators to go in the opposite direction and undo the closed party primary process after the 2026 election cycle. “We voted for the bill because there was a huge push by the governor to have a closed primary system. That’s what he wanted to do and he stood by that,” Henry said at last week’s Baton Rouge Press Club luncheon. “I believe after the May election … you’re going to see several bills to undo it because it is going to be breathtakingly confusing to all of the voters.” Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser, who has been critical of closed primaries, agrees with Henry and said he hopes Louisiana ends the closed primary system. Nungesser, a Republican, said he believes closed primaries were primarily adopted to make it easier to defeat U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, who is up for reelection this year and on the May 16 Republican ballot. “I think the real push for this was to beat Bill Cassidy for Senate. Let’s call it like it,” Nungesser said in an interview. “That appears to me to be the real real focus of why this was kind of pushed down our throats.” Cassidy angered President Donald Trump’s supporters when he voted to convict Trump following the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Nungesser and others believe a closed primary weakens Cassidy’s chance at reelection because it doesn’t allow Democrats to cross party lines and support the incumbent senator in the primary. Landry encouraged U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow, R-Baton Rouge, to run against Cassidy, helped orchestrate Trump’s endorsement of her and then personally endorsed her campaign last week. ...read more read less