Louisiana Election Results Open Thread

RESULTS: Louisiana SoS | NoLa.com | WWLTV


2:28AM: One thing that I forgot to mention: the state Senate seat that Dems picked up tonight (SD22), was previously held by none other than Craig Romero, the briefly-hyped recruit who lost handily to Democratic Congressman Charlie Melancon in 2006. Good.

12:35AM: Eh, if it’s good enough for local media, it’s good enough for me. Dems hold HD83 and retain numerical — but probably not effectual — control of the Louisiana House by a bare 53D-50R-2I margin (pending recounts). Dems also retain a 24-15 margin in the state Senate.

12:21AM: There seems to be some confusion over HD83. The SoS site says that all 20 precincts are in and that Democrat Billiot won by a 140 vote margin. But if you look at the precinct-by-precinct returns, one poll is reporting zero votes. What’s up with this? NOLA.com and WWLTV are both calling Billiot the winner; should we be satisfied with that?

12:01AM: One note on why a bare majority may not be enough in the House: a simple majority of 53 is all that’s required to elect the Speaker of the Louisiana House, but it’s generally been tradition to let the Governor designate the Speaker, from my understanding. Many House Dems aren’t happy with letting Jindal do this, and would like to buck the tradition with a party-line vote. However, it’s not hard to imagine Jindal finding a few allies among the Democratic ranks here.

11:56PM: Democrat Robert Billiot is now up by a 51%-49% margin in HD83, with one more precinct outstanding. Should he win this, Democrats would have a bare numerical majority of 53D-50R-2I in the House (at least, that’s what I and a number of folks in the comments are tallying it as).

11:40PM: Dems are holding HD103 by 4% with all precincts in. So, tallying all this up, Republicans picked up 8 seats in the D vs. R column (with a real chance of picking up the ultra-tight HD83, but likely recounts in HD14 and HD37, where the GOP candidates are winning by 9 and 26-vote margins, respectively). Democrats look like they’ve retained 7 of these seats for sure, and are leading by a mere two votes in another (HD83).

11:04PM: Looks like Dems have lost HD07, HD14 (by 9 votes — expect a recount), HD23, HD24, HD37 (by 70 votes with 31 of 32 precincts reporting, so this one could change), HD51, and HD57. Dems will hold on to HD25, HD28, HD30, HD32, HD39, and are holding on by 4% in HD103 with 16 of 22 precincts in. Here’s a nailbiter: HD83, where the Democrat leads by 2 votes with 18 of 20 precincts in. It also looks like Dems have picked up HD54.

10:25PM: Dems are looking good to retain SD07 (65%-35% lead so far), but are on path to a defeat in SD32. However, it looks like Dems have picked up SD22, where Democrat Troy Hebert has a 500+ vote lead with all precincts in.

10:22PM: 2,750 of 3,967 precincts in, and Caldwell is up over Royal Alexander by 66%-34%.

9:50PM: In the other Senate race I didn’t mention, SD25, Democrat Gil Pinac leads by a 55%-45% margin with 36 of 92 precincts in. In the runoff, Pinac claimed 39% against two Republicans.

9:47PM: Looks like Democrat Caldwell has this locked up. With 780 of 3,967 precincts reporting, he’s leading by a massive 65%-35% margin in the AG race. I suppose that combined 66% Democratic performance in October was pretty instructive, after all.

9:41PM ET: There are four Senate races worth watching (see the chart below). Democrat David Heitmeier leads Republican Paul Richard by 63%-37% in SD07 with 10 of 66 precincts in; Republicans are leading in SD22 by a 2% margin with 29 of 111 precincts in; Democrat Bryant Hammett is trailing by a wide 36%-64% margin in SD32 with 33 of 161 precincts reporting.

9:35PM ET: With 189 of 3,967 precincts reporting, Caldwell is up by 64%-36% over Royal Alexander (R). This one is looking good.

9:12PM ET: With 34 of 3,967 precincts reporting precincts reporting, Democrat Buddy Caldwell is leading the Attorney General’s race by 63% to 37%. A solid start, especially since Republicans usually have the edge in early returns and absentee counts.

It’s run-off day in Louisiana, where the only statewide race of note is the Attorney General’s race. That was pretty much a 33D-33R-33D result in October, but I wouldn’t care to guess how it ends up tonight. Polls close at 8PM Central/9PM Eastern.

Also, control of the state House of Representatives is up for grabs. 40 House seats are looking at runoffs today; many feature members of the same party. Dems go into the runoff holding 33 34 seats outright after October, Republicans 30 (not counting any Dem vs. Dem or GOP vs. GOP run-offs). Here’s the full list of seats in play tonight (if I missed anything, let us know). Seats are color-coded by the party who controlled them before the October elections:













































































































D vs. D R vs. R D vs. R D vs. I
HD20 HD15 HD07 HD55
HD34 HD68 HD14
HD44 HD69 HD23
HD48 HD70 HD24
HD50 HD71 HD25
HD58 HD73 HD28
HD67 HD74 HD30
HD72 HD76 HD32
HD91 HD77 HD37
HD95 HD78 HD39
HD98 HD79 HD51
HD92 HD54
HD57
HD83
HD94
HD103
11 12 16 1


In the state Senate, Democrats go into the run-offs holding 19 seats, while Republicans hold 12. The following seats will be decided tonight:


























D vs. D R vs. R D vs. R
SD05 SD37 SD07
SD14 SD22
SD28 SD25
SD32

We’ll be putting up updates as the returns come in later in the evening. The results will be available here.

69 thoughts on “Louisiana Election Results Open Thread”

  1. The Republican is leading in the SD32 59%-41% with apparently the absentee ballots counted.

    We’re leading 10 votes to 2 in HD24

  2. Big lead in SD25: over 50 points/over 400 votes.

    Behind by 10 points/1,000 votes in SD32, 300 votes in HD07, about 350 in HD23, leading by 2 votes in HD24 and HD51, 50 votes in HD28 (close race), 49 votes in HD30, 230 vote lead in HD32, behind by only 26 votes in HD39, leading by a little less than 200 votes in HD54, losing to the independent in HD55 by about 160 votes, losing by 200 in HD57, behind by 20 in HD103.

  3. We’re leading in
    SD07
    SD25
    HD14
    HD24
    HD30 (close)
    HD32
    HD37 (close)

    We’re trailing in:
    SD22
    SD32
    HD07
    HD23
    HD25 (close)
    HD28 (close)
    HD39 (close)
    HD51
    HD55 (note: independent vs. Democrat)
    HD57
    HD83 (close)
    HD103 (close)

  5. Democrats actually have a chance of picking up both of those Republican senate seats. If we can do that and hold on to the 7th, then that would be golden.

  6. We’re leading in:
    SD07 (big)
    SD25 (comfortable)
    HD07 (pretty close)
    HD14 (comfortable)
    HD24 (comfortable)
    HD25 (pretty close)
    HD28 (pretty close)
    HD30 (pretty close)
    HD32 (pretty close)
    HD54 (comfortable)
    HD83 (fairly comfortable)

    We’re trailing in:
    SD22 (very close although the Rep. has led the whole time)
    SD32
    HD23 (comfortable)
    HD37 (pretty close)
    HD39 (close)
    HD51 (pretty close)
    HD55 (comfortable)
    HD57 (pretty comfortable)
    HD103 (comfortable)

  8. We’re leading in
    Attorney General (big)
    BESE (close)
    SD07 (big)
    SD22 (close)
    HD14 (close)
    HD25 (pretty close)
    HD28 (pretty close)
    HD30 (pretty close)
    HD32 (pretty comfortable)
    HD54 (big)
    HD83 (pretty big)
    HD103 (close)

    We’re trailing in
    SD25 (pretty close)
    SD32 (pretty comfortable)
    HD07 (close)
    HD23 (pretty comfortable)
    HD24 (pretty close)
    HD37 (close)
    HD51 (pretty comfortable)
    HD55 (big)
    HD57 (pretty big)

    2. that’s nice. I really don’t care much for his politics, but I don’t like Bryant Hammet, and his wife was the best math teacher I ever had, and one of the nicest teachers I’ve ever had as well. At least he’s not corrupt, he’s clean as a whistle and has run partially on an anti-corruption campaign, (along with a great of other, less agreable platforms as well). But, the simple fact that Hammet’s company recieved over one million dollars in state contracts while he was in the state house, and his cozy relations with big special interests while he was a high powered public official are enough for me to stamp a big no on his candidacy, not only on that stance but to send the State Democratic party a message. Besides, Hammet is almost as conservative as Riser, and, though a Blanco goto man, (she was very conservative herself), I’d like a to make a note to the State DP on that note. If the most ultra-conservative Democrat is going to get flayed by Republicans in campaign advertisment as a flaming liberal, regardless of his views, then why not run someone who is at a Centrist in the Democratic party, not these guys like Ellington, Hammett, and others who really should be Republicans, and would be in any other state but Louisiana.

      Disclaimer notice: I did not vote in this race. One I am underage, two I do not live in the district. That should be an ironclad excuse.

  11. which would put the House at 53 Democrats, 50 Republicans, and 1 Independent… a very slim margin. And that’s assuming there are no post-election party switchers. This is Louisiana, after all.

    1. Thanks, could you give us your perspective on the state house races? It doesn’t seem to be looking that good right now.

  15. One precinct is W001, where the Democrat for Attorney General got 73 percent plus.  Good news: no obvious sign of a Republican advantage there.  The other is 157, which hasn’t reported there, either. 

  17. That precinct (157B) has no recorded votes in previous elections either.  Perhaps they aggregate their votes with 157A and report them together, listed under 157A.

  18. There was an article in the Baton Rouge Advocate last week saying Rep. Jim Tucker (R-Terrytown) was claiming he had more than enough votes to be elected Speaker of the House. Anyone know if last night’s results make that more or less likely?

    1. And it looks like some of the heavily Democratic precincts in HD-14 have a suspiciously low amount of votes counted as compared to the last time we had a competitive runoff, November 2003.  For example in precinct 1 in Morehouse Parish, Kathleen Blanco got 43 votes, yet just 3 were recorded for the Democrat today.  In precinct 2, Blanco got 39 votes, yet today the Dem only got 4.  Strangely, none of this happened in heavily Republican precincts. 

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