Democrat Chasity Verret Martinez wins Louisiana state House special seat in district Trump won

Louisiana Democrat Chasity Verret Martinez defeated her Republican opponent by double digits in the special election Saturday night for a state House seat in a district President Trump won by 13 points in 2024.

Martinez won 62% of the vote compared to 38% for her Republican opponent, Brad Daigle, according to unofficial results from the Louisiana Secretary of State.

The special election was held after its former state representative, a Democrat, was appointed by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry to be a commissioner for the state’s Department of Alcohol & Tobacco. 

Martinez’s win is not a flip since Democrats already held the seat, but Republicans had seen it as a prime pickup opportunity since Mr. Trump won the district three times. Her win was a 37-point swing from the 2024 results, although the district has voted for Democrats at the state and local levels previously. 

Martinez, a former Iberville Parish councilwoman who focused her campaign on affordability and local issues, was outspent by Republicans 3-to-1. 

Her victory comes on the heels of the Texas 9th state Senate special election last week, where Democrat Taylor Rehmet flipped a seat in the largest Republican county in the country — a seat held by the GOP for over 40 years. While Mr. Trump won that Texas district by 17 points in 2024, Rehmet won his race by 14 points. 

Republicans have not yet had any special election legislative pickups during Mr. Trump’s second term. Democrats have flipped eight previously GOP-held districts in special elections since Mr. Trump took office.  

The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, the campaign arm of Democratic state legislatures, issued a statement on Saturday night saying Republicans “squandered their first flip opportunity in an election they should’ve had in the bag.” 

Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin issued a statement Sunday, saying Martinez “ran an exceptional campaign focused on solutions to the issues that families care most about, from the rising costs of basic goods and essentials to the dozens of rural hospitals in Louisiana at-risk of closure, all thanks to Donald Trump, Mike Johnson, and Louisiana Republicans.”