Three candidates are running against incumbent U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, who is also House Majority Leader, to represent Louisiana's 1st Congressional District on Nov. 3.
The district's boundaries include most of New Orleans’ suburbs and parts of the city, and portions of the following parishes: St. Tammany, Jefferson, Orleans and Tangipahoa.
WWNO/WRKF reached out to all candidates, asking them to answer questions on hot-button issues like coastal restoration, data centers, regulation of AI and more. Only two of them responded. You can read their answers below.
The following candidates responded to a questionnaire sent by WWNO/WRKF:
Randall Arrington (R)
- Ponchatoula
- Arrington is a retired tactical U.S. Navy aviator and holds a Ph.D. in political science from UCLA
Abortion/Reproductive health
No government agency should have the power to tell a woman what she can or cannot do with her own body. That is a decision between herself, her family and her doctor.
That being said, I am personally a pro-life individual because an unborn baby deserves Constitutional protection to guard its life.
Carbon Capture Sequestration and Eminent Domain
Carbon Capture and Sequestration should NEVER be brought to Louisiana, and eminent domain should not apply. It is part of the Climate Change HOAX to steal innocent people’s freedom and rob them of their hard-earned income, so corporations and phony grifters get rich. It is a Fascist merger.
Coastal restoration work in LA
Louisiana manages its eroding coast through the CPRA and its 50-year Coastal Master Plan, which outlines billions of dollars in marsh creation, sediment dredging, and risk reduction.
I support these efforts. Things like:
- Using pumped sediment from the river and Gulf to build and nourish wetlands and barrier islands.
- Building and improving levees, floodgates, and tidal protection systems to shield vulnerable coastal towns.
- Elevating homes, commercial floodproofing, and voluntary property acquisitions in high-risk areas.
- Increased Annual Funding
Data Centers
My argument on these so-called “AI Data Centers” focuses on their massive resource consumption (electricity and water), horrendous noise, environmental and wildlife damage, and limited economic return to the local community.
Additionally, they are also “Surveillance Centers” that will be used to probe and spy on We the People. As such, they violate our 4th Amendment.
Federal Regulation of AI
The AI Revolution is here, and it is unstoppable. We must strictly control it and aggressively monitor its activities, so that we reap the positive rewards and do not suffer the negative consequences.
Transparency will be vital, as We the People cannot afford to be the victims of a Fascist merger between AI executives and bribed, corrupt politicians.
FEMA reform
I was part of the federal government relief team during Hurricane Katrina. We need much faster delivery of federal disaster recovery money and supplies. Plus, we must have stricter control and monitoring of those funds and supplies to wipe out any corruption that compromises the delivery efforts.
When Americans need help, the government must do everything it can to render that needed assistance in a timely manner.
Immigration enforcement
I fully support the work of Border Patrol and ICE Agents. Sixty million illegal aliens make life in America much more difficult than it should be. Send them all home now.
If our government stopped giving the illegal aliens money and all other forms of assistance, millions of them would voluntarily deport themselves.
Offshore drilling for oil and gas
Louisiana should take the lead and be America’s most prolific producer of domestic oil and natural gas. This would greatly improve the standard of living for all Louisiana citizens.
Should members of Congress be prohibited from owning/trading stock?
No member of Congress, their spouse, or a member of their family should be allowed to trade on the stock market while that member is in office.
Should elected officials be allowed to sign NDAs?
Secrecy agreements conflict with the basic duties of public office and undermine public trust; as such, this should never happen.
If you’ve held office before, what legislation are you most proud of and why?
As a Naval Aviator, I flew off the flight decks of four different Navy aircraft carriers, protecting and defending the sacred freedom of the American People.
As an Interdiction Pilot for the Department of Homeland Security, I protected our borders from drug smugglers and the invasion of illegal aliens.
As a University Professor, I taught my students the real truth, not lying propaganda, and encouraged them to love the United States of America as much as I do. I wanted to help them become good citizens.
What will be your top three priorities in office?
- Our Founding Fathers made a mistake in our Constitution by not putting Term Limits on elected officials at the Federal level. All power corrupts and the longer you remain in power, the more likely it is that you have become corrupt. I will write legislation that establishes Term Limits on members of Congress: 2 terms as a Senator (12 years in office) and 4 terms as a Representative (8 years in office). I will also boldly fight the two existential threats that our nation currently faces. Radical Muslims and Marxist Communists plan every day to destroy America and I will never allow that to happen.
- Congress needs to stop sending our taxpayer dollars out of the country. That money should be used to solve our domestic problems. Also, ending property tax is a great way to put more money into the hands of families. Finally, weeding out corrupt officials in government will help to stop the high prices placed on many essentials for families. Rampant collusion between government and private business to keep prices artificially inflated is destructive to the American way of life.
- Almost one in five Louisianans rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). How can Congress address food insecurity in Louisiana? I reiterate, corruption is a key factor in SNAP. It must be uncovered and weeded out. Also, some citizens must do nominal work each week to receive benefits. Nobody will ever go hungry in America.
Lauren Jewett (D)
- Metairie
- Jewett has been a special education teacher for 16 years.
- Represents the First Congressional District Caucus on the Louisiana Democratic Party Executive Committee and is a member of the Jefferson Parish Democratic Executive Committee.
- laurenjewett.com
laurenjewett.com
Abortion/Reproductive health
I believe that healthcare is a human right and that the health of our communities, our state, and our country starts with the quality of and access to healthcare people actually have. I believe
high-quality and essential healthcare includes reproductive justice, sexual healthcare, and bodily autonomy. My platform for U.S. Congress includes cosponsoring the Women's Health Protection Act to protect a patient's right to bodily autonomy and to make their own health decisions, free from political interference, codify Roe v. Wade into federal law, and ensure that women’s health is no longer put at risk due to restrictive laws in Louisiana and other states around reproductive rights and access to birth control methods.
My platform also includes advocating for the Right to Contraception Act to protect people’s access to use birth control methods such as birth control pills, emergency contraception, and intrauterine devices (IUDs).
This office can also use the power of funding, research legislation, and workplace protections to guide reproductive care that addresses preventive health, chronic conditions, and pregnancy care. For example, these actions could help with early detection, advanced treatments, and better healthcare coverage for cervical abnormalities and other reproductive cancers, or help with things like endometriosis research and care. In order to be responsive to our issues in Louisiana with maternity care deserts, OB/GYN shortages, and health disparities for Black mothers, I support cosponsoring the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act and expanding rural OB/GYN residency incentives and telehealth maternity care access.
Carbon Capture Sequestration and Eminent Domain
Many Louisiana residents have expressed concern that the CCS projects will affect our health, wildlife, lakes, water systems, agricultural industry, tourism, and constitutional property rights. Over the past year, I spoke at and attended public hearings in Laplace, Prairieville, and Gonzales in opposition to the CCS project being proposed in Sorrento in Ascension Parish (part of my congressional district prior to the Callais redistricting). I spoke about my concerns with the project being built in close proximity to an elementary school and neighborhood, and a lack of environmental impact studies. Although AirProducts eventually pulled their project proposal for this in late June, Louisiana continues to be at the center of many of the largest carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects in the country and world.
Carbon capture projects also generate their own emissions. They are one of the most expensive emissions reduction measures and require government subsidies, or the 45Q tax credits, to be economically viable. These projects often come at the cost of landowners' rights and public health when eminent domain is used as justification. Too often, the companies proposing these projects have kept basic details and overall impacts undisclosed, leaving the people living above these pipelines and injection sites in the dark about risks to their land, water, and air. My priorities around this topic include opposing the Section 45Q federal tax credits for CCS projects and opposing the use of eminent domain to force landowners to accept CO2 injection or pipelines beneath or near property without genuine, informed consent. Residents and communities must also be provided with comprehensive environmental impact studies and full safety reviews whenever there are projects of any kind proposed. We need to commit to a variety of safe options for renewable and resistant energy sources with job retraining programs.
Coastal restoration work in LA
The 1st District is one of Louisiana's two coastal districts, so coastal resilience and restoration are central to my platform. My long-term plan around coastal erosion starts with a basic principle that people need to be part of the decision-making process when governments make structural changes to where and how they live. The retreat-versus-restore debates often get settled far away from and without the people whose homes and livelihoods are on the line ever having a real seat at the table. We have to address that tension between retreat and restore honestly, directly, and community by community because what's right for one parish is not always right for another, and no plan will hold if it is imposed rather than co-created with the people who will actually live under it. Whether it’s Isle de Jean Charles in Terrebonne Parish or Grand Isle in Jefferson Parish or Delacroix in St. Bernard Parish, the coastal communities of the 1st District deserve a voice in guiding coastal restoration processes.
At the federal level, this requires the government to act proactively instead of reactively in the face of changing climate patterns. We need to invest in stronger infrastructure now and have real mitigation and support plans in place before disaster hits instead of scrambling it together afterwards. That starts with undoing the cuts to federal weather services, including NOAA, to federal levee inspection programs, and to federal grant programs for the environment and habitats because you cannot protect a coast if you are not accurately monitoring and you cannot warn people about storms with a gutted forecasting system.
Coastal restoration and hurricane protection in Louisiana depend on federal dollars and federal science working the way they were intended. We also need to work alongside environmental experts who are leading projects like sediment diversions, marsh creation, and native plantings to naturally rebuild parts of the coast. I would fight to make sure these programs are funded and staffed as if our lives, our children’s lives, and our grandchildren’s lives depended on it because they do. Overall, we need proactive investment, restored federal capacity, and communities in the driver's seat of their own future.
Data Centers
I support a moratorium and pause on new AI data centers until we fully understand their impact on Louisiana and American communities. Before we ever approve massive facilities or projects like these, we need to know how much water and electricity they will consume, what they will do to utility rates, what the noise and environmental impacts will be, and how many long-term good local jobs they will actually create. This is important for any region, but especially for the coastal or rural and agricultural areas of Louisiana.
Additionally, I do not believe public officials should be signing non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) when it comes to these projects because the public deserves transparency. As a candidate, I have also signed the AI pact which commits to five pillars: 1) end data center giveaways like tax breaks and backroom deals, 2) mandatory safety reviews such as safety and risk evaluations before AI companies are proposed and greenlit, 3) creating an AI dividend where the financial gains of AI advancement are shared with everyday workers, 4) corporate accountability to hold AI firms liable for financial and material impacts, and 5) no public or government bailouts for AI companies that take on reckless market risks.
Federal Regulation of AI
As noted in the previous question, I have signed the AI pact to ensure that rapid AI advancement does not proceed without accountability, safety protocols, and corporation oversight. Beyond the commitments within that pact, I will also advocate for guardrails so that AI technology is not used as a tool for over-surveillance of communities, or for discipline and displacement of workers. It is important that at a minimum, we have federal regulations of AI for areas like child safety and national security and thoughtful policies in place for how AI is used in schools, workplaces, and public institutions.
We also need to make sure that we pass laws that address how AI is used to create deepfakes, political misinformation, and images or videos that cause sexual abuse and harassment. As a long-time teacher, I am concerned about AI supplanting original creativity and ideas. It is important that we invest in programs that promote digital literacy skills and STEM education and teach how AI can be a tool to support and assist but not something that replaces critical thinking, problem solving, and human judgment.
FEMA reform
Federal emergency and disaster policy needs a fundamental shift from reactive to proactive and streamlined processes. Right now, Louisiana communities can spend decades rebuilding after a single storm, and that's not acceptable. We need to restructure disaster recovery so families, school systems, and neighborhoods aren't stuck in bureaucratic limbo for years. People often have to deal with insurance companies leaving or dropping them after disasters, which is something that happened to people after Hurricane Ida in 2021, including me. That means federal government investments ahead of disasters and not just after they happen. We need stronger infrastructure, real mitigation plans, and support systems in place for people before the storm hits.
This is also not just about hurricanes anymore, either, because we have had increased tornadoes and winter storms hit Louisiana in recent years, as well as the saltwater intrusion crisis in 2023 that threatened our drinking water. Much of our state's infrastructure and funding is not built to handle disasters of that range and frequency on our own, and President Trump’s recent proposal to raise the damage threshold for aid to states during disasters would actually disqualify us in many instances from getting assistance that we need.
FEMA also has to be genuinely accessible to everyone in an affected area, especially lower-income and disabled residents who are too often the ones left behind in the paperwork and process and often the ones hit hardest by the disaster itself. While the National Flood Insurance Program needs reforms so it reflects the actual risk and reality Louisiana families are living with here, we need an extension because a lapse in the program and efforts to privatize it would disproportionately hurt families in Louisiana, especially in the 1st District. We also need to make sure that our disaster policy and recovery plans are built with the people who actually live in the communities impacted by disasters.
Immigration enforcement
I disagree with the way that the Trump administration has applied current immigration enforcement policies and actions. I have signed a candidate pledge to abolish ICE because I believe our immigration system, as it currently operates, is fundamentally incompatible with advocating for the rights and dignity of all human beings. Border Patrol and ICE operations like what we saw here with Catahoula Crunch in November and December 2025 make that incompatibility impossible to ignore.
Deploying Border Patrol and ICE into American cities the way this administration has is a federal overreach of power and a violation of people's due process rights, and it needs to be addressed critically, not normalized as routine enforcement. These are not isolated incidents; they are a pattern of an agency operating with expanding authority and shrinking accountability, targeting immigrant families and neighbors and asylum seekers and sweeping them up far from the border under the banner of enforcement.
Where that power has been misused and/or has resulted in deaths of people, there needs to be legal action to hold the agencies and officials responsible accountable, not silence and impunity. We need real immigration reform that includes accessible, timely pathways to citizenship instead of the years-long backlogs people currently face, and adequately staffed and resourced processing at the border so that people arriving are met with humane, efficient intake rather than overcrowded facilities and indefinite waiting. There also needs to be public transparency for the private contractors who run the detention centers, enforceable federal standards of care within facilities, and independent or third-party monitoring of these spaces.
I also want to be clear that accountability and compassion to me do not mean ignoring public safety and so when individuals in this process commit crimes, that has to be addressed through our justice system just as it would be for anyone else. However, treating entire communities as suspects because of immigration status is not public safety and is instead, overreach.
Offshore drilling for oil and gas
Our state receives real money from coastal restoration through the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GOMESA), where the revenue sharing from offshore drilling has funded wetland restoration and flood protection for states like Louisiana and districts there like the one I am running to represent. However, this revenue stream also makes our coastal survival in Louisiana dependent on continued expansion of industries and drilling that are perpetuating the problem.
We need to have a federal plan for what happens when oil resources can no longer be drilled or we’ll have worsening coastal erosion, which has also faced less support due to federal cuts. Our families, fishermen, and coastal communities in Louisiana should not bear heightened risks while corporations take the profits. We need stronger monitoring, regulations over oil and gas leasing, dedicated emergency funds, better protection for fisheries, and real accountability and investigations for these companies. We should be investing in new energy industries, so Louisiana is not forced to choose between economic security and environmental safety.
Should members of Congress be prohibited from owning/trading stock?
Yes, I believe members of Congress should be prohibited from owning/trading stock. My commitment to this has been on the record since early in my campaign. In February 2026, I signed the political integrity pledge and also became a Take BAC Congress signatory, each of which includes a commitment to supporting a congressional stock trading ban.
Should elected officials be allowed to sign NDAs?
No, I do not believe that elected officials should be allowed to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). I believe that these agreements breach integrity and trust with the public. They also remove the democratic process where constituents can have meaningful participation in discussing different projects and developments and the spending involved in these projects. The fact that these types of agreements happened with a project as big as the AI data center in Richland Parish, which will have energy and environmental impacts on the surrounding community, is unacceptable.
If you’ve held office before, what legislation are you most proud of and why?
Aside from my local and state Democratic Party roles, I have not previously held elected office where I have passed legislation, resolutions, or measures.
What will be your top three priorities in office?
Three priorities and district needs will shape my work in the House include:
- Advocate for the rights of children and adults with disabilities — Historically, the rights of people with disabilities have been weakened not through some single dramatic policy, but through the slow grind of insufficient government funding and a lack of care that is both respectful and meaningful. I'll fight to fully fund IDEA and expand home and community-based services, using appropriations to reverse the weakening of care and legislative oversight to protect the Department of Education and Olmstead protections. We need to ensure disabled people can live in their homes and communities, not institutions, at every stage of life.
- Protect affordable healthcare access — Healthcare is a human right, which is why I support Medicare for All long-term, paired with strengthening the ACA and reversing its cuts now and protecting Medicaid. Care must be truly comprehensive: dental, vision, hearing, and mental/behavioral health as essential, not add-ons. We should also honor promises to veterans, protect bodily autonomy and patient-doctor decision-making from political interference, and fight rural hospital closures with incentives for providers in underserved areas.
- Push for coastal and environmental protection — As one of Louisiana's two coastal districts, we're vulnerable to erosion, storms, and corporate exploitation. I'll push appropriations securing federal funding for Louisiana's coastal master plan, use oversight and litigation to hold oil and petrochemical companies accountable, and invest in storm surge infrastructure to protect our air, water, soil, and communities long-term.
The following candidates did not respond to a questionnaire sent by WWNO/WRKF:
Steve Scalise (R)
- Incumbent candidate; Scalise has represented the 1st Congressional District since 2008 and held the House majority leader’s post since 2023.
- Jefferson
- stevescalise.com
E. Liddy Glass (No Party)
- Metairie
- Believes in limited government, individual liberty and fiscal responsibility
