Big Blue Cities Threaten Red-State Liberty. Do GOP Voters Care?

Just look at what is going on in Louisiana ...

Joseph Ford Cotto | July 16, 2026

In ruby-red Louisiana, a disturbing power play exposed how far a rusting Democratic machine will reach to undermine lawful state government.

From the isolated blue stronghold of Orleans Parish, which is New Orleans itself, local officials defied the state legislature. They basically claimed home rule trumped all, then indicted Attorney General Liz Murrill, a Republican, for the “crime” of enforcing Louisiana law.

This was no routine dispute. It was illegal retaliation from a shrinking political island desperate to reclaim influence it lost at the ballot box.

The situation is wheels within wheels. Within wheels.

Orleans Parish long maintained separate civil and criminal clerks of court, a relic unique among Louisiana’s 64 parishes. This year, Republican-led lawmakers passed Act 15, folding the criminal clerk’s duties into the existing civil clerk’s office. Voters had elected Calvin Duncan, recently freed from a long, wrongful prison stretch, to the now-eliminated criminal post. Instead, Chelsey Richard Napoleon, the civil clerk, would assume the combined role.

Federal and state courts, including the Louisiana Supreme Court on June 1, upheld Act 15 as constitutional. No vacancy existed. The merger took effect.

New Orleans Democrats were incensed. The district attorney had pushed the city council for an “interim clerk.” Mayor Helena Moreno insisted a new office required a special election. On May 11, the all-Democratic council passed resolutions appointing retired Judge Calvin Johnson and scheduling a fall vote. They charged forward even after the attorney general affirmed the legislature’s action.

Murrill responded to New Orleans professionally. She advised that its moves were “plainly wrong.” No new office had been created. When ignored, her May 13 follow-up cited a usurper statute that strips elected officials of their positions for recognizing false officeholders. The impostor himself could be prosecuted. The City Council’s defiance only intensified.

On July 2, Democratic Special Prosecutor Laurie White secured a grand jury indictment against Murrill on 16 felony counts: retaliation........

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