It may have taken a few months for it to shake out, but it looks like Louisiana Democrats finally have their candidate in the open seat race to replace retiring GOP Rep. Jim McCrery:
Caddo Parish District Attorney Paul Carmouche formally announced on Wednesday that he will be a candidate for Louisiana’s 4th Congressional District seat this fall.
While this R+6.5 PVI open seat may not be at the top of the GOP’s list of worries this November, Carmouche’s candidacy will bring a real fight to the Republicans. So sayeth CQ:
Carmouche’s decision contributed to CQ Politics’ change of its rating on the 4th District race to Leans Republican, a category for highly competitive races, from Safe Republican, a designation applied to contests that the GOP appears certain to win.
Carmouche is the longtime district attorney in Caddo Parish, which includes Shreveport, the population center for the 4th District and the third most-populous city in Louisiana. […]
Carmouche is not seeking re-election this year as district attorney, an office he has held since 1979. Democratic officials cite his long background in law enforcement and his conservative views on social issues, including his opposition to abortion and gun control measures, as among the reasons they think he will be able to overcome the district’s tilt toward the Republicans in presidential election years.
Not exactly the next John Yarmuth, but I’ll take what I can get in a district this red — as long as it gives the GOP some more heartburn. The results from the May 3rd special election to fill Richard Baker’s seat in LA-06 (also R+6.5) could prove to be something of a bellwether here.
I love seeing us compete in the south. Even if it is a moderate Dem. Gives us more reason to win with progressives in the north when we can.
Lessee. LA has seven House seats. This open seat in LA-04, the Shreveport district, now has a strong Democratic contender. Over in in LA-06, the Baton Rouge area, a run-off will decide our candidate in a special election to fill out the rest of this year. Our chances there look very good if the favorite wins the nomination. LA-01, the deep-red NOLA suburban or white flight district was recently represented by now-Gov Bobby Jindal. Here Gilda Reed is making a spirited race of it despite the odds.
Now the Daily Kingfish is reporting a likely challenger or two in the SW corner of the state. “And then Gil Pinac of Crowley got up and gave a very, very brief speech. … we just may have a good candidate to take on Boustany in LA-07. He has not made it official, he just wanted to thank everyone for their support. … I think both Pinac and Donald Cravins, Sr. [Mayor of Opelousas] would walk away with the race, as they would get more than enough votes from the Lafayette area to add to the Democratic votes from Lake Charles.” The Repub incumbent is only a two-termer, winning in 2004, perhaps the peak year for the Repubs nationally and in LA.
We hold LA-03, the bayou country south of New Orleans, with Charlie Melancon — a social conservative sometimes derided as a Blue Dog, but this month he voted with us on FISA, showing again that any Democrat is better than any Repub.
“Dollar Bill Jefferson” has LA-02, for now, but his trial is coming up eventually, and a vacancy could occur. An open seat could spur turnout.
That leaves only the party-switcher Rodney Alexander in LA-05 without a solid vote-getting Democrat in the race.
It must surely help the re-election campaign of Senator Mary Landrieu to have strong Democrats in five or six of the state’s Congressional districts. It could even help to make LA emerge as a surprise battleground state in the Presidential race. You know, if this is how the 50-state strategy works, it seems to be working very well.
Not my favorite Dem by any stretch of the imagination, but I’d say he might be dead-on perfect for the district. His name recognition should be sky-high in the district’s major media market, and he doesn’t have the clouds around him that Hightower sometimes seemed to.