First the bad news: there were high hopes that Rick Gallot, a prominent African-American state representative from Ruston, would challenge turncoat Rodney Alexander in LA-05. Yesterday, he said he won’t:
“After prayerful deliberation, I’ve decided not to seek the congressional seat at this time,” Gallot said. “However, I’m flattered that the (party) thought enough about me and the work I’ve been doing to approach me about running. I also appreciate the support I’ve had from so many people who expressed their support.”
So far, the only candidate challenging Alexander is fellow Republican Andrew Clack. I’d been hoping that between Gallot running and Don Cravins Jr. running in LA-07, that might undercut Michael Jackson’s contention that African-American candidates get the short end of the stick from the LA Democratic Party and dissuade him from running in LA-06 as an independent. Well, based on today’s news, that’s not working out either.
Now for the good news: a swarm of challengers has emerged to take on embattled (corrupt, indicted) “Dollar Bill” Jefferson in LA-02. The three-day ballot qualifying period kicked off yesterday; as was previously reported here, state Rep. (and “former Jefferson ally”) Cedric Richmond has been running since last month; so has Jefferson Parish Councilor Byron Lee.
Yesterday, former WDSU-TV anchor Helena Moreno kicked off her campaign, as did Kenya Smith, former political aide to mayor Ray Nagin. In addition, New Orleans City Councilor James Carter and former New Orleans City Councilor Troy Carter announced yesterday that they will qualify. The missing other Carter — state Rep. Karen Carter Peterson, who lost the 2006 runoff to Jefferson — apparently is not in the running this time.
Louisiana has eliminated its ‘jungle primary’ (where everyone ran against everyone, followed by a runoff for the top 2 candidates of any party if no one broke 50%) for federal office, so each party’s primary is Sept. 6, followed by each party’s runoff on Oct. 4. Dems compete against the GOP in the general on Nov. 4, although in the D+28 2nd, the primary runoff is the main event. (With at least 6 competitors, no one’s going to break 50%.)
I’m not sure “…the floodgates have opened once more in New Orleans…” is the best way to put it.
We don’t want people like him in Congress if we want to prove Ds are different and better.
In LA-2 the most prominent individual not yet running is clearly Ray Nagin. One of last cycle’s semi-prominents, Derrick Shepherd, is currently undergoing trial for bribery. And of course, the New Orleans Times-Picayune via nola.com is reporting that both Bill Jefferson and his sister are unnamed co-conspirators (shades of Richard Nixon during Watergate).
Meanwhile, the only independent candidate who has filed for Congress in Louisiana so far is Peter Vidrine in the 7th district held by Charles Boustany. For those with a strange sense of humor, the only Republican candidate to file so far in NY-26 is Christpher Lee. No, it’s not the British actor who starred in all the old horror films and who played in both the Star Wars and Lord of the Rings movies. It does lend itself to some creepy Halloween attack ads, though. More Dracula than Count Dooku to be sure.