Democrat Captures La. House Seat Long Held By GOP
Sun. May 4, 2008
State Rep. Don Cazayoux, a Democrat, Saturday won a special election for a Louisiana House seat that had been in Republican hands for more than a third of a century.
Cazayoux defeated former GOP state Rep. Woody Jenkins by 49-46 percent for the slot vacated earlier this year by the resignation of former GOP Rep. Richard Baker. Baker left Congress to take a lobbying job. The 6th District seat that Cazayoux will represent is based in Baton Rouge.
Meanwhile, as widely expected, Republicans Saturday retained the New Orleans area 1st District seat that had been represented by now-Gov. Bobby Jindal. GOP state Sen. Steve Scalise defeated Democratic nominee Gilda Reed by a better than 3-1 margin.
Cazayoux distanced himself from the national Democratic Party in winning a district that had given nearly 60 percent of its vote to President Bush in 2004. “For the second time this cycle, Republicans were reminded that ‘all politics is local’,” declared Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen of Maryland – alluding to the recent special election in which a Democrat captured the Illinois House seat that former GOP House Speaker Dennis Hastert resigned late last year.
Jenkins, who narrowly lost a bitter Senate race in 1996 to Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., is a controversial figure who brought several pieces of political baggage into the contest.
His company, Great Oaks Broadcasting, has run into problems for not paying taxes on time. And, in 2002, the FEC fined him for concealing his purchase of a phone bank tied to former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.
Sun. May 4, 2008
Sun. May 4, 2008
State Rep. Don Cazayoux, a Democrat, Saturday won a special election for a Louisiana House seat that had been in Republican hands for more than a third of a century.
Cazayoux defeated former GOP state Rep. Woody Jenkins by 49-46 percent for the slot vacated earlier this year by the resignation of former GOP Rep. Richard Baker. Baker left Congress to take a lobbying job. The 6th District seat that Cazayoux will represent is based in Baton Rouge.
Meanwhile, as widely expected, Republicans Saturday retained the New Orleans area 1st District seat that had been represented by now-Gov. Bobby Jindal. GOP state Sen. Steve Scalise defeated Democratic nominee Gilda Reed by a better than 3-1 margin.
Cazayoux distanced himself from the national Democratic Party in winning a district that had given nearly 60 percent of its vote to President Bush in 2004. “For the second time this cycle, Republicans were reminded that ‘all politics is local’,” declared Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen of Maryland – alluding to the recent special election in which a Democrat captured the Illinois House seat that former GOP House Speaker Dennis Hastert resigned late last year.
Jenkins, who narrowly lost a bitter Senate race in 1996 to Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., is a controversial figure who brought several pieces of political baggage into the contest.
His company, Great Oaks Broadcasting, has run into problems for not paying taxes on time. And, in 2002, the FEC fined him for concealing his purchase of a phone bank tied to former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.
Sun. May 4, 2008