| Elections in Louisiana |
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Presidential Elections
Presidential primaries U.S. Senate elections U.S. House elections Special elections |
State elections by year Gubernatorial elections
Lieutenant gubernatorial elections Attorney General elections |
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| Elections in Louisiana |
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Presidential Elections
Presidential primaries U.S. Senate elections U.S. House elections Special elections |
State elections by year Gubernatorial elections
Lieutenant gubernatorial elections Attorney General elections |
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Elections for Federal offices, as in the rest of the country, occurred on November 2. The Primaries were held on August 28 with a runoff for the Republican U.S. House nomination occurring on October 2 in Louisiana's 3rd congressional district (no other primaries went to a runoff).
Louisiana's 3rd congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The district covers the southwestern and south central portion of the state, ranging from the Texas border to the Atchafalaya River.
Louisiana's Class III U.S. Senate seat and all seven U.S. House seats were up for election.
The three classes of United States Senators are made up of 33 or 34 Senate seats each. The purpose of the classes is to determine which Senate seats will be up for election in a given year. The three groups are staggered such that all senators in each of the groups are up for election every two years, rather than having all 100 seats up for election at once. For example, the 33 Senate seats of class 1 were up for election in 2018, the elections for the 33 seats of class 2 will take place in 2020, and the elections for the 34 seats of class 3 will be held in 2022.
Senator David Vitter (R) sought re-election. Vitter overcame intraparty opposition in the August primary and was opposed in the General election by U.S. Representative Charlie Melancon (D).
David Bruce Vitter is an American lobbyist, lawyer and politician who served as United States Senator for Louisiana from 2005 to 2017. He was the first Republican elected to the Senate from his state since the Reconstruction Era. Previously, he served in the United States House of Representatives, representing the suburban Louisiana's 1st congressional district. He served as a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives before entering the U.S. House.
The Republican Party, also referred to as the GOP, is one of the two major political parties in the United States; the other is its historic rival, the Democratic Party.
The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. Tracing its heritage back to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison's Democratic-Republican Party, the modern-day Democratic Party was founded around 1828 by supporters of Andrew Jackson, making it the world's oldest active political party.
Six of the seven members of Louisiana's House delegation sought re-election. Both before and after the elections, Republicans held six of Louisiana's U.S. House seats while Democrats held one seat, but the lone Democratic seat changed from the Louisiana's 2nd congressional district to the 3rd. Many political prognosticators regarded the races in the Second and Third districts as the most competitive.
Louisiana's 2nd congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The district contains nearly all of the city of New Orleans and stretches west and north to Baton Rouge.
The State of Louisiana usually holds its general elections for state offices in post-midterm off-years. Elections for state and local offices, unlike federal elections, are conducted under the jungle primary (also known as nonpartisan blanket primary) format and are usually held in mid-October. [1]
An off-year election is a general election in the United States which is held when neither a presidential election nor a midterm election takes place. The term "off-year" may also be used to refer to midterm election years as well.
Besides various local elections and special elections legislative seats and other positions, ballots in Louisiana during 2010 concerned a special election for lieutenant governor, for the judiciary, and for certain referenda (including amendments to the state constitution) and other measures.
By-elections, also spelled bye-elections, are used to fill elected offices that have become vacant between general elections.
In the United States, 45 of the 50 states have an office of lieutenant governor. In two of the 45 states, the speaker of the upper house of the state legislature serves in such a capacity. In most cases, the lieutenant governor is the highest officer of state after the governor, standing in for that officer when they are absent from the state or temporarily incapacitated. In the event a governor dies, resigns or is removed from office, the lieutenant governor typically becomes governor.
In the United States, a state court has jurisdiction over disputes with some connection to a U.S. state. State courts handle the vast majority of civil and criminal cases in the United States; the much smaller in case load and personnel, United States federal courts, handle different types of cases.
Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu's (D) election as Mayor of New Orleans created a vacancy, thus necessitating a special election. Scott Angelle (D) was appointed by Governor Bobby Jindal (R) in May to fill the vacancy until the conclusion of the special election. Angelle agreed to do the job only until it was filled via the special election for the remainder of the term to which Landrieu had been elected; thus Angelle did not qualify for that election. [2]
The special election cycle began with the 2010 October 2 jungle primary, which pitted Republicans Jay Dardenne, Kevin Davis, Sammy Kershaw, Melanie J. McKnight, and Roger Villere and Democrats James "Jim" Crowley, Caroline Fayard, and Butch Gautreaux. Dardenne and Fayard advanced to the general election.
Throughout the campaign leading up to the primary election, Villere had been especially critical of Dardenne. Thus Villere's subsequent endorsement of Dardenne was met with incredulous statements like those of political scientist Pearson Cross of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette:
Subsequently Louisiana Republican Party officials declined to give state party funds to Dardenne's campaign, even as the Louisiana Democratic Party paid $209,936 for a television commercial as an "in-kind donation" supporting Fayard. [4] The Louisiana Republican Party continued to ignore Dardenne's campaign even as the Louisiana Democratic Party raised its support of Fayard to $423,000. [5] Between the primary and the general election Fayard exceeded Dardenne in both fundraising and spending, a situation fostered significantly by the Louisiana Democratic Party's donations in support of Fayard while the Louisiana Republican Party declined to open its pursestrings for Dardenne. [6] Ultimately the Louisiana Democratic Party spent $770,000 on Fayard's campaign. [7] Louisiana's Republican governor Bobby Jindal also declined to involve himself in either the election for lieutenant governor or the election for U.S. Senator between Republican incumbent David Vitter and the challenging Democrat, U.S. Representative Charlie Melancon. [8]
Among other discussions, Dardenne and Fayard appeared on the October 15 Louisiana: The State We're In magazine televised by Louisiana Public Broadcasting and on an October 22 forum sponsored by the Baton Rouge League of Women Voters. [9]
The runoff campaigns for the general election on November 2 between Dardenne and Fayard, soon turned vitriolic, with Dardenne describing Fayard as a supporter of U.S. President Barack Obama and same-sex marriage and an opponent of the death penalty, while Fayard, who was 32 years of age and had never held political office, attempted to deflect the Republican tide by claiming that Dardenne represented the legacy of Louisiana politics. [10] Times-Picayune columnist Stephanie Grace opined that
Besides contributions to Clinton, Kerry, former state senator Cleo Fields, and former U.S. Representative William J. Jefferson, a Dardenne commercial criticized Fayard's previous employment by Goldman Sachs, which later received a federal bailout: "Analysts like Fayard got rich but cost us billions." Fayard countered: We have been hit hard by hurricanes, and BP and the moratorium. Our people are tired of being ignored." Fayard's commercial ended with an assertion that Fayard, merely somewhat more than half Dardenne's age, was not part of "the same old crowd" of Louisiana politics. [12] Fayard came after Dardenne for "earning outside income" by maintaining a law practice, which Dardenne said was only for "some limited legal work for longtime clients and some mediation work, but not on state time." When Fayard pledged to spend "110 percent" of her time as lieutenant governor, Dardenne called Fayard's pledge "a cheap political stunt." [13]
In the October 22 forum sponsored by the Baton Rouge League of Women Voters, Fayard continued to knock Dardenne's outside income, and Dardenne responded that Fayard had voted in just seven of the previous 14 elections. [14] In response to Dardenne's question on where the money came from when she lent her campaign over $400,000 but had indicated her 2009 income as less than $80,000, Fayard responded that she had followed "every ethical rule" and that the money came from "success." [15]
Television commercials by the two candidates intensified in number and acrimony during the week before the runoff. [16] A Darden commercial criticized Fayard's assigning, in response to a forum question, a grade of "B+" to President Barack Obama's performance while "F" was the grade assigned by Dardenne. [17]
Dardenne won the November 2 election. Darden's elevation to lieutenant governor was delayed formally and officially to 2010 November 22 to obviate a statutory requirement to hold a special election to fill the position of secretary of state. Thus on November 22 Darden's chief deputy Tom Schedler became secretary of state. [18]
In the backdrop of Dardenne's high name recognition and established reputation and the uphill battle many Democrats were facing around the country in the 2010 elections, the Think Tank with Garland Robinette talk radio program speculated that Fayard, as a savvy candidate, had little or nothing to lose in the lieutenant governor race and that she might prove to be the most effective candidate the Louisiana Democratic Party could offer in 2011 as an alternative to Republican governor Bobby Jindal. The discussion cited Jindal's high approval ratings and already in-the-bank $7 million campaign fund as unapproachable assets for Democrats other than Fayard. [19] Fayard did not run, and the leading Democrat in the 2011 race was Tara Hollis of Thibodaux with 17% of the vote.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Jay Dardenne | 180,944 | 27.61 | ||
| Democratic | Caroline Fayard | 159,507 | 24.34 | ||
| Republican | Sammy Kershaw | 126,166 | 19.25 | ||
| Republican | Kevin Davis | 51,542 | 7.86 | ||
| Democratic | Jim Crowley | 51,461 | 7.85 | ||
| Republican | Roger Villere | 44,096 | 6.73 | ||
| Democratic | Butch Gautreaux | 25,289 | 3.86 | ||
| Republican | Melanie McKnight | 16,411 | 2.50 | ||
| Turnout | 655,416 | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Jay Dardenne | 719,271 | 57.09 | ||
| Democratic | Caroline Fayard | 540,649 | 42.91 | ||
| Turnout | 1,259,920 | ||||
The Louisiana judicial elections of 2010 consisted of multiple dates. There were elections on February 6 (for one Louisiana District Courts seat), March 27 (three District Court seats), August 28, 2010 (political primary, no judges on ballot), and October 2 (in which one Louisiana Supreme Court seat and thirteen Louisiana Courts of Appeal seats were up for election). Judicial elections in Louisiana are conducted with the political party affiliation of the candidate indicated on the ballot. [20]
Numerous measures were on the ballots on October 2 and November 2. [21]
Samuel Paul Kershaw is an American country music artist. He has released 16 studio albums, with three RIAA platinum certifications and two gold certifications among them. More than 25 singles have entered Top 40 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including the number one hit "She Don't Know She's Beautiful" and 10 more Top 10 hits: "Cadillac Style", "Anywhere but Here", "Haunted Heart", "Queen of My Double-Wide Trailer", "I Can't Reach Her Anymore", "National Working Woman's Holiday", "Third Rate Romance", "Meant to Be", "Vidalia", and "Love of My Life".
John Leigh "Jay" Dardenne, Jr. is a lawyer and politician from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who is currently serving as commissioner of administration for Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards. A moderate 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.
The Louisiana gubernatorial election of 2007 was held on October 20. The filing deadline for candidates was September 6. On the day of the election, all 12 candidates competed in an open jungle primary. With all precincts reporting, Bobby Jindal won the election with 54%.
Jack Arthur Blossman Jr., known as Jay Blossman, is an attorney from Mandeville, Louisiana, who is a Republican former member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission. Blossman was the PSC chairman for his last two years on the board, 2007 to 2008.
Sandra Smith "Sandy" Thompson is a former Louisiana state administrator, who retired in 2007 from the directorship of the Atchafalaya Basin Program.
Michael Gene Strain is the first Republican ever elected to the position of Louisiana Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner.
Ánh Quang "Joseph" Cao is a Vietnamese-American politician who was the U.S. Representative for Louisiana's 2nd congressional district from 2009 to 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party. In April 2011, Cao announced his candidacy for the office of Attorney General of Louisiana, but in September 2011 he pulled out of the race. The incumbent Buddy Caldwell ran unopposed for a second term.
The Louisiana gubernatorial election of 2011 was held on October 22 with 10 candidates competing in a nonpartisan blanket primary. The incumbent, Bobby Jindal, was elected to a second term as governor of Louisiana. Since he received an outright majority of the vote in the blanket primary, a runoff election that would have occurred on November 19 was unnecessary.
Daniel Albert Claitor is a Baton Rouge attorney and a Republican member of the Louisiana State Senate.
John Thomas Schedler, known as Tom Schedler, is a politician from suburban St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, USA, who served as the District 11 Louisiana state senator from 1996 to 2008, when he was term-limited after twelve years. Thereafter, he was named chief deputy to then Louisiana Secretary of State Jay Dardenne, a former Senate colleague of Schedler's from Baton Rouge. When Dardenne became lieutenant governor-elect, Schedler began acting as secretary of state. Dardenne's elevation to lieutenant governor was delayed formally and officially to November 22, 2010, to obviate a statutory requirement to hold a special election to fill the position of secretary of state. Thus on November 22, Schedler became the official secretary of state.
Roger Francis Villere, Jr. is an American businessman from Metairie in Jefferson Parish in suburban New Orleans, who was the former chairman of the Louisiana Republican Party, a post he filled from March 2004 to February 2018 at the behest of the GOP State Central Committee. He was succeeded by New Orleans businessman Louis Gurvich in February 2018, when Villere did not seek reelection as the party chairman. At the time of his retirement, he was the longest serving state Republican Party chairman in the United States. He succeeded Pat Brister of St. Tammany Parish, the first woman to have been the state GOP chairman, who served from 2000 to 2004.
Scott Anthony Angelle is an American politician who is the current director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement in Washington, D.C. From 2013 to 2017, he was the District 2 member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission, an elected five-person utility regulatory body.
Cathryn Caroline Fayard (/feɪ·jard/), also known as Caroline Fayard, is a New Orleans lawyer. She was a Democratic candidate for the United States Senate in the November 8, 2016 primary election for the seat being vacated by two-term Republican Senator David Vitter.
Dudley Anthony Gautreaux, known as Butch Gautreaux, is a Democratic former member of the Louisiana State Senate from Morgan City, Louisiana. From 2000 to 2012, he represented Senate District 21. In 2012, the reconfigured district incorporated mostly Republican portions of Iberia, Lafourche, St. Mary, and Lafourche parishes.
Louisiana's 2011 state elections were held on October 22, 2011, with runoff elections held on November 19. All statewide elected offices were up, as well as all seats in the Louisiana State Legislature.
The Louisiana gubernatorial election of 2015 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.
United States gubernatorial elections were held in three states in 2015 as part of the 2015 United States elections. In Kentucky and Mississippi the elections were held on Tuesday, November 3, and in Louisiana, as no candidate received a majority of votes at the primary election on Saturday, October 24, 2015, a runoff election was held on Saturday, November 21. The last regular gubernatorial elections for all three states were in 2011. Democrats won the open seat of term-limited Republican Bobby Jindal in Louisiana, while Republicans reelected incumbent Phil Bryant in Mississippi and picked up the seat of term-limited Democrat Steve Beshear in Kentucky.
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 Louisiana lieutenant gubernatorial election took place on October 24, 2015, to elect the Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana, with a runoff election held on November 21, 2015. Incumbent Republican Lieutenant Governor Jay Dardenne did not for re-election to a second full term in office. He instead ran for Governor. Billy Nungesser won the election defeating Kip Holden, despite a Democratic victory in the gubernatorial election, in which John Bel Edwards defeated David Vitter by a similar margin.
A general election was held in the U.S. state of Louisiana on October 24, 2015. All of Louisiana's executive officers, and both houses of the Louisiana State Legislature were up for election. Under Louisiana's jungle primary system, all candidates appeared on the same ballot, regardless of party and voters voted for any candidate, regardless of their party affiliation. Since no candidate received a majority of the vote during the primary election, a runoff election was held on November 21, 2015 between the top two candidates in the primary. Louisiana is the only state that has a jungle primary system.
|access-date= requires |url= (help) He also gained the support of the Louisiana Sheriffs Association. Anderson, Ed (2010-10-26). "Louisiana Democratic Party pours money into Caroline Fayard's campaign". Times-Picayune (Saint Tammany Edition). p. A2. Retrieved 2010-10-26. Simultaneously the Livingston Parish News went for Fayard. "Editorial Endorsement: Caroline Fayard for lieutenant governor". 2010-10-25. Retrieved 2010-10-25.|title= (help)|access-date= requires |url= (help)Anderson, Ed (2010-11-04). "Dardenne will explore tightening belt at new office: Positions could be merged, slashed". Times-Picayune (Saint Tammany Edition). p. A3. Retrieved 2010-11-06.