Iberville Democrat Chasity Verret Martinez kept a Louisiana House seat in the blue column in a Saturday Special Election. That was despite running in a district where a strong majority of voters favored Donald Trump for President in 2024.
Now, Democrats nationwide hope a blue wave will flip more legislative seats later this year.
“Republicans just squandered their first flip opportunity in an election they should’ve had in the bag. Since Trump’s election, Republicans have faced defeat after defeat — even in ruby red districts. It’s clear that the backlash to Republicans’ toxic agenda is reaching every corner of the country as Democrats build strong campaigns to compete in red states like Louisiana and Texas,” said Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) President Heather Williams.
“As Republicans raise prices and leave working families in the dust, no Special Election is off limits for the DLCC and state Democrats. We’re building momentum as we approach the midterms, where we have a historic opportunity to flip 650 seats and achieve the biggest gains down-ballot in two decades.”
Martinez won 62% of the vote in a Saturday election in House District 60. Unofficial final election results showed she received 5,159 votes to Republican Brad Daigle’s 3,169.
“When we vote, we remind the world who this belongs to,” Martinez posted on Facebook.
Martinez serves on the Iberville Parish Council.
Martinez replaces former state Rep. Chad Brown, who was named by Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican, to the Department of Alcohol and Tobacco Control.
“Congratulations to Chasity Verret Martinez on her election to represent House District 60. She was outspent 3-to-1 and still won. This is what happens when grassroots Democrats show up and organize,” reads a statement from the Louisiana Democratic Party. “Proud of this win and excited to keep building power together.”
The DLCC noted that Trump carried Martinez’s district in 2024 by 13 percentage points. Republicans had hoped to make the district the first flip of a legislative seat in the country.
Meanwhile, Democrats earlier this month flipped a Texas Senate district previously held by Republicans, with Democrat Taylor Rehmet coming out on top by 14 points in a seat Trump had won by 17 points in the Presidential Election.
The same evening Martinez won, Republican Skip Broussard, a Jennings Republican, won a Special Election in House District 37 over independent Ivy Woods, a former Jefferson Davis Sheriff. No Democrat ran in that deep red seat, where Broussard took 67% of the vote.
The DLCC in December announced a $50 million investment in legislative races for the 2026 Midterms and a record number of target seats to flip.
That includes listing Georgia among the states where the DLCC has the greater chance to gain seats in the Georgia House and Senate, while aiming to break supermajorities in both chambers of the Florida Legislature. The Democratic organization also wants to build seats in the South Carolina House and both seats of the North Carolina Assembly.
