Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry (photo courtesy of The Advocate).
Today (Tuesday, October 14, 2025) was the monthly gathering of the Ronald Regan Newsmaker Luncheon, and we opted to attend because the scheduled speakers included attorney Paul Hurd, who will argue before the U. S. Supreme Court tomorrow entailing Louisiana’s redrawn Congressional District.
Plaintiffs, led by Phillip Callais, contend the map that Gov. Landry strong-armed through the Louisiana Legislature which placed Congressman Cleo Fields in office, is racially gerrymandered. Most pollical pundits (and that certainly includes us) contend that Landry agreed to cram that map through in exchange for Fields’ agreement to help ensure black voter turnout in the 2023 gubernatorial election was muted and that, behind the scenes, Fields even quietly backed Landry’s election as Governor.
Beyond Hurd, another speaker was former Grant Parish DA Ed Tarpley, whom Jenkins informed the audience of 30 or so attendees represented “media interests” in Washington. Tarpley didn’t mince his words one iota concerning his thoughts about Gov. Landry and AG Liz Murrill and their “disgraceful” acts (and seeming flip flop) on the whole Fields map issue:
Tarpley references the “disgraceful” acts of Gov. Landry and AG Liz Murrill entailing the enactment and subsequent failure to challenge the map which culminated in the election of U. S. Congressman Cleo Fields.
Now, we have a strong suspicion that Gov. Landry, who is, like the two above-referenced attorneys, in Washington gearing up for the Supreme Court oral arguments scheduled for tomorrow, had one of his on-staff attorneys, Brett Robinson, lingering around just in case things got a tad too much to the displeasure of his boss (Landry). Bear in mind that the sponsor of the luncheons, former Louisiana State Rep. Woody Jenkins, live streams all luncheons. Thus, both Gov. Landry and Robinson would be able to easily monitor events with Robinson perhaps being in close proximity to jump into action if needed.
Whatever the case, Robinson entered the room at 12:37 p.m. (36 minutes after the event kicked off) and alerted Jenkins that Gov. Landry wanted to be heard. Let us present the entirety of Gov. Landry and the bantering that took place between him, Jenkins, and the attorneys:
Gov. Landry defends the attacks against him and states that the people of Louisiana need to respect, “the hard work Liz Murrill and I have been doing while I was the Attorney General.”
Undeterred by Landry’s defense of his actions, Tarpley followed up after Landry stated that he had to go, and he characterized Landry as “disingenuous” for trying to now line up with the Plaintiffs in the litigation after all of Landry’s past actions, which Tarpley described as “ridiculous.”:
Tarpley rebuffs Landry’s efforts to try to “claim credit” if the Plaintiffs prevail in the case pending before the U. S. Supreme Court
Notice on the video above that Tarpley indicates that Legislators were under “enormous pressure” to vote in favor of Landry’s map. Obviously, one such Legislator would be State Sen. Blake Miguez, whom we have already endorsed for U. S. Senate in 2026.
Perhaps as a result of our public endorsement of Miguez, on August 29 at 4:29 p.m. Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns received a text paid for by Shane Tubre with listed address of 21828 Turkey Creek Drive, Baton Rouge LA 70817. The text lambasted Miguez on several fronts, but most notably for purposes of this feature was his support of Gov. Landry’s efforts entailing Fields:
We may be wrong, but it sure looks like Congressman Fields and Gov. Landry will be the subject of a bunch of campaigns in the near future and, among Republicans, it sure looks to us like Landry’s antics have rapidly caught up with him.
That concludes the “core” portion of our feature; however, here are other clips from today’s luncheon:
Lead Plaintiff Phillip Callais thanks attorney Paul Hurd for filing the litigation after he indicates that State Rep. C. Denise Marcell told Callais, ‘We want to elect people who look like us.”
St. George Councilman Richie Edmonds asks what happens if the Plaintiffs prevail in the litigation.
Susie Labry asks how many seats across the US this case may impact.
Near the outset of the meeting, host Woody Jenkins does a superb job of succinctly outlining the briefs filed in the case.
Hurd provides his initial presentation and fields a question from Jenkins entailing the case.
CLICK HERE for the presentation in its entirety.
We’ll see how all this plays out, but there is obviously enormous interest in tomorrow’s U. S. Supreme Court hearing on this case.
So, Landry and the legislature orchestrated a scenario where SCOTUS took a case that may result in Republicans gaining 19 seats in the House and some folks are complaining? Where I come from, temporarily conceding one seat to gain 19 is a great deal. In fact, it is amazing considering many states prior to Louisiana have attempted to get their case to SCOTUS and failed. To use one of Burns’ football analogies, it is like the Saints just won the Superbowl, and the assistant coaches are arguing they should have gone for it on fourth down instead of kicking the winning field goal. The truth is 50 years from now, no one will know who Cleo Fields is but Louisiana vs Callais will be in every textbook. This case could change the balance of power for decades. It is not a time for whining, it is a time for celebrating. Sometimes you just have to take the win!!