Democrats say they like legislative trend
Though both chambers of the Louisiana Legislature remain securely with Republican majorities, Democratic Party legislative leaders say the results of this fall’s elections bode well for the minority party in state politics.
State Rep. John Bel Edwards, who chairs the Democratic caucus in the Louisiana House of Representatives, said Monday that the Republican Party had predicted grabbing 70 seats in the 105-member House, enough to win votes that require a two-thirds majority.
Edwards said Democrats still have the same number of members in the Louisiana House as the party had before the election season started in September. After the weekend finale, the House has 58 Republicans, 45 Democrats and two who are not affiliated with a political party. The state Senate has 24 Republicans and 15 Democrats.
“I don’t think we were looking for 70; 62 would have been what we could have best hoped for if all the stars aligned,” said state Rep. Chuck Kleckley, R-Lake Charles, who likely will be the next Speaker of House. “We’re 58. We’ve grown eight since the last election (in 2007). That’s pretty good growth.”
Two of the three former senators seeking to regain old posts they left over the past decade were defeated in those attempts, while former Sen. Greg Tarver, of Shreveport, is heading back to the job he held for two decades until 2004, after beating incumbent Lydia Jackson. Both are Democrats.
Four incumbent House members lost Saturday: state Reps. Sam Little, R-Bastrop; Billy Chandler, R-Dry Prong; Rick Nowlin, R-Natchitoches; and Rickey Hardy, D-Lafayette.
The only issue that was on ballots across the state was a constitutional amendment banning local governments from charging real estate transfer fees. Complete but unofficial returns showed 590,264 of the state’s 2.85 million registered voters cast ballots on the constitutional referendum, which is an indication that 20.5 percent of the state’s voters participated in the runoff election, said Sailor Jackson, spokesman for the agency.
The election season started off with U.S. Sen. David Vitter and Gov. Bobby Jindal, both Republicans, announcing they would raise money and support candidates in an effort to elect a more conservative Louisiana Legislature.
Edwards said the Democrats calculated that, once the final reports come in, they will show that the committee organized by Vitter, and the fund within the Louisiana Republican Party that Jindal supported, together, spent about $4 million on legislative races.
“Every single Democratic incumbent — even those targeted by David Vitter and Bobby Jindal — were re-elected in the House,” Edwards said.
Edwards attributed the outcome, partially, to Louisiana voters rejecting mean-spirited campaign tactics. He said Vitter’s group sent mailers, made phone calls and produced radio commercials that used “code language” and linked local Democratic candidates to extreme positions that President Barack Obama does not advocate.
“Vitter’s tactics were race baiting and Obama hating,” Edwards said Monday.
When Vitter was asked for a response, his spokesman, Joel DiGrado, wrote in an email Monday, “I guess being so far down, the Democrats are having to get quite imaginative with their arguments.”
Vitter emailed his supporters Monday: “I’m personally very enthusiastic about the results.”
Vitter wrote that when his Louisiana Committee for a Republican Majority began in 2005, 40 members of the House were Republican and 16 members of the Senate were GOP.
Jindal said at a news conference Monday that he endorsed 110 candidates for statewide office, BESE and the House and Senate in primary and general elections and that 96 were victorious.
He said his Victory Fund spent more than $1.4 million, sent more than 1.6 million pieces of mail and made more than 2.5 million get-out-the-vote phone calls.
Jindal said he spent about $420,000 from his own campaign funds on BESE and legislative races.
Senate-winner Tarver said Jindal did not endorse him or help his election bid. Jindal also did not back Jackson.
The governor did get involved in the runoff between state Sen. John Smith, R-Leesville, and former state Sen. John David Cain, of Dry Creek, also a Republican.
Cain aired a television ad questioning why Jindal would support a longtime Democrat. Smith, who won, only recently joined the Republican Party.
Jindal responded by spending more than $50,000 of his own campaign funds on advertising against Cain.