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Elections in Louisiana |
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The 2002 United States Senate election in Louisiana was held on November 5, 2002. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu won re-election to a second term, although she did not earn 50% of the vote in the first round and was therefore forced into a runoff election with Republican Suzanne Haik Terrell, the Louisiana Elections Commissioner.
During the runoff, Landrieu was outspent three-to-one by Terrell, who also had prominent Republicans including President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney visit Louisiana to campaign on her behalf. Republicans, confident of victory having gained seats in the elections to the House of Representatives and to the Senate, solidifying control of the former and taking control of the latter, publicly called the election "Operation Icing on the Cake". [1] [2] Some Democrats responded by calling their efforts "Operation Wipe that Smirk off of Bush's Face" [3] and dubbed Landrieu's subsequent run-off victory, "Operation Pie in the Face". [4]
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Mary Landrieu (Incumbent) | 573,347 | 46.00% | ||
Republican | Suzanne Haik Terrell | 339,506 | 27.24% | ||
Republican | John Cooksey | 171,752 | 13.78% | ||
Republican | Tony Perkins | 119,776 | 9.61% | ||
Democratic | Raymond Brown | 23,553 | 1.89% | ||
Independent | Patrick E. "Live Wire" Landry | 10,442 | 0.84% | ||
Independent | James Lemann | 3,866 | 0.31% | ||
Libertarian | Gary D. Robbins | 2,423 | 0.19% | ||
Republican | Ernest Edward Skillman, Jr. | 1,668 | 0.13% | ||
Turnout | 1,246,333 | 100.00% |
Source | Ranking | As of |
---|---|---|
Sabato's Crystal Ball [5] | Lean D | November 4, 2002 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Mary Landrieu (incumbent) | 638,654 | 51.70% | +1.53% | |
Republican | Suzanne Haik Terrell | 596,642 | 48.30% | -1.53% | |
Majority | 42,012 | 3.40% | +3.06% | ||
Turnout | 1,235,296 | 100.00% | |||
Democratic hold | Swing | ||||
Landrieu pulled off what many considered to be an upset victory. The Republicans believed they would most likely win the race. Before the election, many Republicans called the race operation icing on the cake. After Landrieu won the runoff Democrats dubbed her victory operation pie in the face. The race was close. In terms of rural parishes, the vote was split fairly evenly. Landrieu did well in Caddo Parish home of Shreveport, and in East Baton Rouge Parish home of Baton Rouge. Ultimately though it was Landrieu's huge win in Orleans Parish home of New Orleans that pushed her over the finish line. Haik Terrell conceded defeat to Landrieu at 12:38 P.M. EST, congratulating Landrieu on her victory. Landrieu would go on to be reelected to a third term in 2008, but ultimately defeated in her bid for a fourth term in 2014.
Mary Loretta Landrieu is an American entrepreneur and politician who served as a United States senator from Louisiana from 1997 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, Landrieu served as the Louisiana State Treasurer from 1988 to 1996, and in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1980 to 1988.
The 2002 United States Senate elections featured a series of fiercely contested elections that resulted in a victory for the Republican Party, which gained two seats and thus a narrow majority from the Democratic Party in the United States Senate. The Senate seats up for election, known as class 2 Senate seats, were last up for regular election in 1996. The election was held on November 5, 2002, almost fourteen months after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Melvin Lee "Kip" Holden, is an American politician who served from 2005 to 2016 as the Democratic Mayor-President of Baton Rouge and East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana. The parish includes the state capital of Baton Rouge and smaller suburban cities such as Baker, Central City, and Zachary.
John Leigh "Jay" Dardenne, Jr. is an American lawyer and politician from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who is serving as commissioner of administration for Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards. A Republican, Dardenne served as the 53rd lieutenant governor of his state from 2010 to 2016. Running as a Republican, he won a special election for lieutenant governor held in conjunction with the regular November 2, 2010 general election. At the time, Dardenne was Louisiana secretary of state. Formerly, Dardenne was a member of the Louisiana State Senate for the Baton Rouge suburbs, a position he filled from 1992 until his election as secretary of state on September 30, 2006.
Suzanne Haik Terrell is the first and only Republican woman elected to statewide office in Louisiana. A practicing attorney, Terrell was the state's final commissioner of elections, a position which she held from 2000 to 2004. In 2002, she was the Republican nominee for United States Senate, losing a hotly contested and closely watched race against incumbent Senator Mary Landrieu. In 2005, U.S. President George W. Bush appointed Terrell to a position as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the United States Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration. Terrell is currently a partner with the New Orleans law firm of Hangartner, Rydberg, and Terrell.
The politics of Louisiana involve political parties, laws and the state constitution, and the many other groups that influence the governance of the state. The state was a one-party Deep South state dominated by the Democratic Party from the end of Reconstruction to the 1960s, forming the backbone of the "Solid South." This was due to the near-total disenfranchisement of the state's large African-American population during this time, who mostly voted Republican. The Civil Rights era turned the state into a competitive one on the federal level, as it voted for the nationwide winner in every election between 1972 and 2004. It remained Democratic on the state and local level until the turn of the 21st century, allowing Republicans to win control of the state legislature and every statewide office in 2011. Republicans won a United States Senate seat for Louisiana in the election of 2004, for the first time since 1876. Republicans captured both seats in the election of 2014 for the first time since 1872. In the election of 2008, the state voted for a losing presidential candidate for the first time since 1968. Democrats won less than 40% of the presidential popular vote in the state in the elections of 2016 and 2020.
John Charles Cooksey was an American ophthalmologist and politician who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives for Louisiana's 5th congressional district from 1997 to 2003.
Sharon Weston Broome is the mayor-president of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She served in the Louisiana State Senate representing the 15th district from 2005 to 2016. She was elected mayor-president in a runoff election held on December 10, 2016. Broome is the first African-American woman to serve as mayor-president.
The 1996 Louisiana United States Senate election was held on November 5, 1996, to select a new U.S. Senator from the state of Louisiana to replace retiring John Bennett Johnston, Jr. of Shreveport. After the jungle primary election, state treasurer Mary Landrieu went into a runoff election with State Representative Woody Jenkins of Baton Rouge, a former Democrat who had turned Republican two years earlier.
The 2000 United States presidential election in Louisiana took place on November 7, 2000, and was part of the 2000 United States presidential election. Voters chose nine representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
Jeffrey Martin Landry is an American politician and attorney who is the governor-elect of Louisiana, having been elected in 2023. A member of the Republican Party, Landry has served as the 45th attorney general of Louisiana since 2016 and previously served as the U.S. representative from Louisiana's 3rd congressional district from 2011 to 2013.
The 2012 United States House of Representatives elections in Louisiana were held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012 and elected the six U.S. representatives from the state of Louisiana, one from each of the state's six congressional districts, a loss of one seat following reapportionment according to the results of the 2010 census. The elections coincided with elections for other federal and state offices, including a quadrennial presidential election. A jungle primary took place on November 6, with a runoff, if necessary, scheduled for December 8.
The 2014 United States Senate election in Louisiana was held on November 4, 2014, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Louisiana. As no candidate won a majority of the vote, a runoff was held on December 6, 2014.
The 2015 Louisiana gubernatorial election was held on November 21, 2015, to elect the governor of Louisiana. Incumbent Republican Governor Bobby Jindal was not eligible to run for re-election to a third term because of term limits established by the Louisiana Constitution.
Elbert Lee Guillory is a former member of the Louisiana State Senate. An American Republican, he represented District 24, including his native Opelousas, and several rural precincts, from May 2, 2009, when he won a special election, until January 11, 2016, when his full term to which he was elected in 2011 ended.
Theodore Michael Haik, Jr., known as Ted Haik, is an attorney in New Iberia, Louisiana, who was a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1976 to 1996. He represented House District 49, which includes portions of Iberia, St. Mary, and Vermilion parishes. He is the older brother of U.S. District Judge Richard T. Haik of Lafayette and Suzanne Haik Terrell of New Orleans, the last Louisiana elections commissioner who served from 2000 to 2004 and the unsuccessful Republican candidate in the 2002 U.S. Senate race against the incumbent Democrat Mary Landrieu.
The 2016 United States Senate election in Louisiana took place on November 8, 2016, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Louisiana, concurrently with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
The 2019 Louisiana gubernatorial election was held to elect the governor of Louisiana. Incumbent Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards won re-election to a second term, defeating Republican businessman Eddie Rispone. Edwards became the first Democratic Governor of Louisiana to win re-election to a second consecutive term in 44 years since Edwin Edwards in 1975. It was the closest Louisiana gubernatorial election since 1979.
Louisiana's 16th State Senate district is one of 39 districts in the Louisiana State Senate. It has been represented by Republican Franklin Foil since 2020.
The 2023 Louisiana gubernatorial election was held to elect the governor of Louisiana. Incumbent Governor John Bel Edwards was term-limited and could not seek re-election to a third consecutive term in office. This race was one of two Democratic-held governorships up for election in 2023 in a state that voted for Donald Trump in 2020.