BATON ROUGE — State Sen. Cleo Fields said Tuesday he would seek a seat in Congress from Louisiana's reshaped 6th Congressional District, which extends from Baton Rouge to Shreveport and is intended to give the state a second minority-majority district.

In a Facebook post Tuesday, Fields said he would seek to replace Rep. Garret Graves, a Republican from Baton Rouge. A federal judge ordered Louisiana to create a second minority-majority district to better match the state's demographic breakdown.

"I will formally announce my candidacy in the next several weeks, but I want to be clear I will be a candidate," Fields said. 

Candidates often announce early in attempts to dissuade others from entering political contests. Fields formerly served in Congress.

"My focus has always been on leading the efforts to help the people of Louisiana from my Baton Rouge Senate District to people all the way to Shreveport in my congressional district," Fields wrote.

U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick rejected a congressional district map last year after legislators had only one minority-majority district for of the state's six-member delegation. Blacks make up nearly one-third of Louisiana's population, and creating a second minority-majority seat would likely make the delegation match the state's racial makeup.

The change also threatens a Republican majority in Congress. Republicans hold a slight majority it hopes to retain in the fall. Party members elected a Louisiana congressman, Mike Johnson, as its Speaker last year.