BATON ROUGE — Republican members of the Louisiana House on Thursday selected Gov. Jeff Landry's preferred candidate as the chamber's majority leader.

Rep. Michael Echols of Monroe was elected to the House in 2019. His colleagues selected him over Rep. John Illg of Metairie. Illg had opposed Landry's support for a bill that would have given the state insurance commissioner more power to reject rate increases. Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple said he wanted to base decisions on data rather than act at will.

While Landry and Temple have agreed that something must be done to lower insurance rates, they haven't agreed on how best to do it. They even held separate news conferences in the spring.

In a press release Thursday, the House's GOP delegation said Echols' election produced a "renewed focus on conservative governance." The delegation did not release a breakdown of the vote.

Majority leaders help set the legislative agenda.

This year, Landry vetoed more than a dozen items that would have benefited programs in districts held by those who opposed his agenda, including a pair in Illg's district.