Rep. Garret Graves does not sound ready to call it quits despite getting targeted for political extinction by his fellow Republicans in Louisiana's new congressional map, which Gov. Jeff Landry signed into law on Monday. “I expect to run,” Graves tells NOLA.com's Tyler Bridges in a new interview, "and I expect to be re-elected."
It's not clear, though, what Graves' survival plan might look like. The completely revamped 6th District would have voted for Joe Biden by a 59-39 margin, making it deeply inhospitable for any Republican. (The prior iteration backed Donald Trump 64-34.) That means Graves would likely have to challenge a fellow incumbent in a primary, but which one?
Graves' seat was chopped up between five other districts, but the largest slice wound up in GOP Rep. Julia Letlow's 5th: Graves represents 43% of that redrawn constituency while Letlow represents nearly all the rest, according to a new analysis from Daily Kos Elections.
