By Paul Anger, 2nd vice chair, Jefferson Parish Democratic Executive Committee
Katie Darling of Covington decided two months ago that she had to run for Congress. She felt a deep commitment to do so. She’s a mom, she’s a Democrat, and she’s due in mid-September to give birth to her second child -- despite her history of high-risk pregnancies.
“I decided this has to stop,” she says. “Enough is enough.”
Darling refers to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to deny a woman’s right to control her body, plus Louisiana’s new laws limiting medical procedures and prohibiting abortion even in cases of rape or incest. That galvanized Darling, once and for all.
She had considered running before. She believes in fighting climate change, flood mitigation along Pontchartrain and the Mississippi, affordable insurance, marriage rights for all, services and tax policies to benefit low- and middle-income folks and small businesses, and more support for public education starting with universal pre-K.
In 2016, when Donald Trump was elected to threaten all she believed in, Darling was living in New Orleans. She explored running for office but decided not to compete with like-minded Democrats.
She moved in 2019 to Covington with husband of nine years John Huntington, also a Democrat and a New Orleans police officer, plus their daughter Remy, now 6. In late June, at seven months pregnant, she decided to challenge Republican Steve Scalise in Louisiana’s 1st Congressional District.
“When Roe was overturned,” she says, “I knew help wasn’t coming for me. I had to stand up and advocate for myself and for reproductive rights. I’m here to say as a pregnant woman that I demand this should be a private matter. I lot of people feel the same, from both parties.”
She will vote in Congress to make reproductive rights the law of the land.
Darling, 36, knows what it’s like to risk everything for the chance to be a mom. “I’ve gone through pregnancies that did put my life at risk,” she says. “My current pregnancy is high risk. The idea that my doctor couldn’t perform a life-saving measure for me, that government wouldn’t allow me to make choices with my own body …
“That is not OK with me.”
She was born in California as an only daughter with three brothers.
“After all I’ve gone through, it’s absurd to be pregnant again – but I would like my daughter to have a sibling in her life,” Darling says. “We had thought about adopting and were in the process of becoming foster parents when I became pregnant.”
Husband John worked as a chef before joining the NOPD. He made an abrupt career change, but standing up to help the community seems to run in the family. “My husband,” Darling says, “has an incredible heart. He’s truly here to serve.
“He sees what’s going on in the city. When he leaves home, he has his vest on, and he makes sure he has toys for kids in the car. He buys his own tourniquets so they’re there when he needs them.”
Her husband’s parents, and Darling’s, are Republicans. None were surprised she decided to run, and all have donated to her campaign. “They were primed for this,” she says, “from dinner-table conversations. We’re open about what we believe. But my parents are proud of me.”
That gives Darling hope for the country, that we can discuss issues and maintain relationships without name-calling. She’s worked in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York – and moved here 10 years ago after falling in love with New Orleans on business visits. She works for a company that makes educational software for school nurses and school mental-health counselors.
She’s passionate about supporting entrepreneurs and making the economy work for all people. Her father ran a small business. “He felt a deep responsibility,” she says, “to get up and work hard every day to make it all successful. He’d say, ‘You get back what you give.’ That example is what I’ve aspired to.”
Darling holds a two-year associate’s degree and is studying online to get her bachelor’s in Business Administration from Central State University in Ohio. Then, she says, “I want my MBA or law degree. That’s relevant to what I want to achieve next.”
She wants to be part of the solution to balancing community needs with business needs and the economy, especially in Louisiana.
“I like the idea of smaller government, but I will not be satisfied unless all people are taken care of,” Darling says. “Republicans tend to believe it’s just about being pro-business, protecting their own assets, and they’re willing to sacrifice the well-being of others. That doesn’t work in our society. But it doesn’t have to be a choice. Democrats care about the community and the economy -- both do better with Democrats.”
Scalise has hurt Louisianans, she says: “He’s content to let people suffer.”
Scalise voted against the American Rescue Plan, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Chips Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. Together, that legislation helps people keep jobs, puts others to work, helps shore up Louisiana’s roads and bridges, promotes clean energy and auto charging stations, reduces prescription drug costs and addresses national security by incenting America’s production of vital computer chips.
Scalise also voted against the Women’s Health Protection Act, and that is of immediate concern to Darling.
“Here we have a representative who voted against improving women’s health care,” she says, citing Louisiana’s high rate of maternal mortality that falls heavily on women of color. “We have women who are already suffering, women who end up dying, and Scalise is voting to put women more at risk.
“We have to stop the assault on women’s rights,” Darling says. “My campaign is about standing up for a woman’s health, her privacy, her freedom. Republicans like to talk about freedom, except when it comes to voting rights, race, your sex, your gender.
“I am the one in this race standing for freedom.”