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Endorses McCallum
The race
Louisiana Supreme Court, District 4, is uncontested: Jay McCallum (R) drew no opponent in qualifying and is re-elected to a second 10-year term. Barring a write-in upset, McCallum holds the seat — the court's largest district by geography, covering most of Shreveport, all of Bossier Parish, and parts of 17 other northern and central Louisiana parishes.
McCallum's is the longest public trail in this batch, and it crosses party history honestly: a Union Parish native, first in his family to attend college (Northeast Louisiana University, 1982; LSU Law, 1985; plus a Master of Divinity from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary). He served 11 years in the Louisiana House (1992–2002) — elected then as a Democrat, per Trellis's professional record — and as an assistant district attorney, before 15 years as a Third Judicial District trial judge (2002–2018), election without opposition to the Second Circuit Court of Appeal in 2018, and election to the Supreme Court on November 3, 2020. He now sits as a Republican, serves on the Louisiana State Law Institute by his fellow justices' appointment, works on the Sentencing Commission and Law Enforcement Commission, and serves as temporary pastor of Liberty Baptist Church in Union Parish. No ethics or discipline file surfaced; the party switch is decades old and fully documented, printed here because a full ledger prints it — and because voters in 2020 and since have had it in front of them.
Pros and cons
McCallum: Credits: Every rung of Louisiana public law — legislator, prosecutor, trial judge for 15 years, appellate judge, six years a justice — with a first-generation-college story rooted in the district he serves. Dirt/limits: The 1990s Democratic legislative service is a fact of the record; nothing in the searched record shows it carried into his judging, and his elections since 2018 have been as a Republican and, in 2018, unopposed.
OUR CALL
Our call: endorse Jay McCallum. Forty years of verified service, the last two decades on benches at three levels, affirmatively aligns with our standard. The old party label is part of his ledger and we print it; the judging record is what the endorsement rests on.
Vote Jay McCallum.
For the complete Election 2026 breakdown — every race, claim by claim — see the full coverage on our website. Vote early. Research your candidates. Choose the best moderates, whatever their party — no extremism from either side. And encourage your friends and family to do the same. --- Sources — Louisiana Judiciary — Justice Jay B. McCallum biography — https://www.louisianajudiciary.com/judges/jay-mccallum/ • LSU Law — McCallum election background, December 4, 2020 — https://law.lsu.edu/news/2020/12/04/two-more-lsu-law-alumni-elected-to-louisiana-supreme-court/ • Trellis — Judge Jay B. McCallum professional background (House service as a Democrat, 1992–2002; now registered Republican) — https://trellis.law/judge/jay.b.mccallum • Shreveport Times — McCallum re-elected without opposition, February 16, 2026 — https://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/news/2026/02/16/two-republican-judges-representing-shreveport-and-bossier-elected-to-louisiana-supreme-court/88702383007/ AI-assisted article — but the sources are human, and the facts are very real.