How to Run for the Louisiana Legislature in 2027

Louisiana elects its state senators and state representatives in 2027, each for a four-year term (La. Const. Art. III, Sec. 4(C)). To run for either house, you must, at the time you qualify, be at least 18 years old, have resided in Louisiana for the preceding two years, and have been actually domiciled for the preceding year in the legislative district you seek to represent (Art. III, Sec. 4(A)). You qualify with the clerk of court for the parish in which you are registered to vote, between Tuesday, August 3 and 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, August 5, 2027.

The qualifying fee is $225 for state representative and $300 for state senator, plus a $25 fee for the state's Campaign Sign Recycling Fund (R.S. 18:464(B)). Instead of paying, you may file a nominating petition signed by 400 voters of the representative district or 500 voters of the senatorial district (R.S. 18:465(C)). The primary is on Saturday, October 9, 2027, and the general election, if needed, is on Saturday, November 20, 2027. Citations are to the constitution and the Louisiana Revised Statutes (R.S.). Confirm the details for your district with your clerk of court.

For the parish offices on the same ballot, see our guide to running for local office in Louisiana.

The Legislature in brief

The Louisiana Legislature has two houses. The constitution provides that "the number of senators shall not exceed thirty-nine and the number of representatives, one hundred five" (Art. III, Sec. 3). Each member represents a single district, and legislative districts can cross parish lines.

In the Secretary of State's records for the parishes we checked, current legislative terms end on January 10, 2028, so the next members are chosen at the fall 2027 elections. The 2027 calendar also lists special elections early in the year for two legislative districts, on dates set for those districts only.

The primary. The Legislature is not a "party primary office" under R.S. 18:2(9), so R.S. 18:401(B)(1) applies: "all qualified voters of this state may vote on candidates for public office in primary elections without regard to the voter's party affiliation or lack of it, and all candidates for public office who qualify for a primary may be voted on without regard to the candidate's party affiliation or lack of it." A candidate who receives a majority in the October 9 primary is elected (R.S. 18:511(A)). Otherwise, the top two go on to November 20 (R.S. 18:481 and 18:482).

Step 1: Check that you qualify

Age, residence and domicile. The constitution states: "An elector who at the time of qualification as a candidate has attained the age of eighteen years, resided in the state for the preceding two years, and been actually domiciled for the preceding year in the legislative district from which he seeks election is eligible for membership in the legislature" (Art. III, Sec. 4(A)).

After reapportionment. At the first regular legislative election after district lines are redrawn, a candidate may qualify from any new district created in whole or in part from a prior district, if the candidate was domiciled in that prior district for at least one year before qualifying and lived in the state for two years (Art. III, Sec. 4(B)). A member whose domicile is not within the district when sworn in, or who later moves out of it, vacates the seat.

Term limits. No one elected to serve "for more than two and one-half terms in three consecutive terms" in the Senate may be elected to the Senate for the succeeding term, and the same rule applies to the House of Representatives, counting service in terms that began on or after January 8, 1996 (Art. III, Sec. 4(E)).

Rules that can disqualify any candidate.

• Registration. You must be a qualified elector, which means registered to vote.
• Felonies. No one under an order of imprisonment for a felony may qualify (R.S. 18:451). The constitution also bars a person convicted of a felony who has not been pardoned, unless more than five years have passed since the original sentence was completed (La. Const. Art. I, Sec. 10.1, as quoted by the Secretary of State).
• One office at a time. You may not be a candidate for more than one office in the same election, except for membership on a political party committee (R.S. 18:453).
• Tax returns. You certify that you filed federal and state income tax returns for each of the previous five tax years, filed for an extension, or were not required to file (R.S. 18:463(A)(2)).

Step 2: Choose the fee or a nominating petition

You qualify by filing a notice of candidacy "accompanied either by a nominating petition or by the qualifying fee and any additional fee imposed" (R.S. 18:461(A)(1)). A candidate who files a petition pays no qualifying fee or additional fee.

Party committee fees. A party's state central committee and parish executive committee may each add a fee of up to half the qualifying fee for candidates affiliated with that party (R.S. 18:464(C) and (D)). The Secretary of State's fee chart, revised in June 2026, lists these for Democratic and Republican candidates: $112.50 each for state representative and $150 each for state senator, with the parish executive committee fee applying only where the parish committee has assessed one. Ask your clerk of court for your exact total. Pay in cash, by certified or cashier's check on a state or national bank or credit union, by a U.S. postal money order, or by a money order issued by a state or national bank or credit union (R.S. 18:464(A)).

A petition in a district that crosses parishes. Signers must be registered to vote on the office. They may sign no earlier than Monday, April 5, 2027. You submit the petition to the registrar of voters in each parish where your signers live, by Tuesday, July 6, 2027 (R.S. 18:465(E)). The Secretary of State's form asks you to keep each parish's signers on separate pages and to give each registrar its own certification page, because a registrar can certify only voters registered in that parish. Our guide to qualifying by fee or nominating petition covers the form line by line.

Step 3: Qualify with the clerk of court

Candidates for the House and Senate are listed with "local candidates" in the state's fee law (R.S. 18:464(B)(2)), and local candidates qualify "with the clerk of court for the parish in which the candidate is registered to vote" (R.S. 18:462(B)). The Secretary of State's fee chart lists both offices under "Candidates qualify with CLERK OF COURT."

1. Qualify between Tuesday, August 3 and 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, August 5, 2027 (R.S. 18:467 and 18:468). Ask the clerk's office for its hours.
2. Sign the notice of candidacy before a notary or two witnesses (R.S. 18:463(A)(2)(b)). Read every certification, and check with the Louisiana Board of Ethics for any other filings.
3. Choose your ballot name within the rules: your given name, initials or a nickname in quotation marks, with your surname, and no title or occupational description (R.S. 18:463(A)(1)(b)).
4. List your party designation as your registration shows: your recognized party's name, "other" or "no party." It cannot be changed after you qualify.
5. Bring a valid Louisiana driver's license or identification card and the fee or your certified petition.

The notice counts only if the clerk receives it during qualifying (R.S. 18:466). A court action objecting to a candidacy must be filed by 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, August 12, 2027, based on R.S. 18:1405(A).

Step 4: Plan a district campaign

A legislative district may include parts of several parishes. Learn its exact boundaries, ask each parish's registrar of voters how to obtain the list of registered voters in your district, and recruit a volunteer lead in each parish or community.

The final weeks follow the voter calendar: registration closes on Wednesday, September 8 in person or by mail and Saturday, September 18 online, and early voting runs from Saturday, September 25 to Saturday, October 2, Monday through Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. (R.S. 18:1309). Polls are open on October 9 from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. (R.S. 18:541).

Place signs only on private property with the owner's permission. The notice of candidacy includes a certification that you know the prohibitions on signs on a highway right-of-way, publicly owned property or a utility pole (R.S. 18:463(A)(3)). If this is your first race, our post on how to run for local office with no experience covers the basics of building a campaign.

Step 5: Keep supporters informed by text

1. Campaign Verify first. Campaign Verify confirms to the carriers (the mobile phone companies) that a political sender is a real campaign. It needs a 527 committee (the federal tax status of a political committee) with an EIN (its federal tax ID number) and a filing with an election authority that is published online. Check that your filing can be viewed online before you request it, and ask Campaign Verify Support if it cannot. A $95 request made on or after Sunday, November 15, 2026 lasts until January 31, 2029. Campaign Verify decides eligibility.
2. Registration. CampaignCNX+ files your carrier registration, as 10DLC (the registration for texting from a standard local-style number) or toll-free, and files your Campaign Verify token with it. For a toll-free number, the carrier review usually takes about three business days.
3. Supporters who agreed in writing. Add only people who signed up for campaign texts, and record the consent date and source in a custom field. Use tags for the parish or community where you met each supporter, so you can send local event notices to the right group.
4. Scheduled reminders. Texts send only between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. in the recipient's time zone, and STOP, HELP and START replies are handled automatically.

Hi [First name], it's [Name], running for State Rep. Early voting is open through Sat, Oct 2. Reply STOP to opt out.

100 free SMS included. Your number is $5 a month. For rules that apply to any campaign, see our page on political texting.

Map your district this winter

Confirm your domicile, find your district's exact boundaries, and list the registrars you will deal with if you use a petition. When you are ready to keep supporters informed by text, start a CampaignCNX+ trial.