Louisiana Voters Reject Gov. Jeff Landry-Backed Constitutional Amendments in Second Straight Election Cycle
Four of the five amendments on the ballot were supported by Landry and his political organization, Protect Louisiana Values, which invested roughly $1 million in efforts to secure passage.
BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana voters again rejected a slate of constitutional amendments backed by Gov. Jeff Landry on Saturday, delivering a broad defeat to a package of proposals the governor and allied groups heavily promoted across the state.
Four of the five amendments on the ballot were supported by Landry and his political organization, Protect Louisiana Values, which invested roughly $1 million in efforts to secure passage. Preliminary results showed the measures losing by wide margins, ranging from about 16 to 56 percentage points.
The governor made Amendments 3 and 4 central to his campaign push, continuing a broader effort tied to budget, tax, and government restructuring proposals that have struggled to gain voter approval over the past year.
The outcome marks a second consecutive election in which voters have rejected key portions of Landry’s constitutional agenda, signaling sustained resistance to changes advanced by the administration and its allies.
Political tensions surrounding the election were heightened in recent weeks amid disputes over voting rights, redistricting, and local governance decisions. State leaders and Republican lawmakers drew criticism from Democratic officials after delaying U.S. House elections while pursuing a revised congressional map following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found Louisiana’s prior districts unconstitutional due to racial considerations.
The redistricting effort prompted strong opposition from Black voters and Democratic leaders, many of whom testified against the proposed map during hearings at the State Capitol.
Additional controversy emerged in New Orleans, where state officials backed legislation eliminating the elected position of Orleans Parish criminal court clerk. The move prevented Calvin Duncan, who won the office with about 68% of the vote, from taking the position.
Opposition to the amendments had been building before those disputes intensified, but organizers of the “No on All” campaign said recent political developments increased voter engagement and energized turnout.
“All of those things are opening people’s eyes to voter suppression efforts that have been taking place in this state for a long time,” said Sarah Omojola, who worked with the Liberty and Dignity Coalition against the amendments.
One of the most closely watched proposals, Amendment 3, would have restructured education funding by dissolving certain state trust funds and applying the savings toward retirement obligations for K-12 schools and universities. The measure also called for mandated pay increases for teachers and support staff.
With its defeat, the future of educator pay raises remains uncertain. For the past three years, school employees have received annual stipends funded by the state, but legislative leaders have signaled those payments may not continue without voter approval of the amendment.
“If the public doesn’t vote to give [teachers] a pay raise, then that means they don’t want to give them a pay raise,” said Senate President Cameron Henry, R-Metairie.
Other defeated amendments included proposals to remove certain civil service protections for state employees, establish a new school district in the Baton Rouge area, allow local governments to reduce or eliminate business inventory taxes, and increase the retirement age for judges.
