Replies

“Democrats maintain control of the state House - barely”

By Melinda Deslatte

Associated Press

Democrats maintained their hold on the state House of Representatives, with Saturday’s runoff elections giving them the slimmest of majorities: 53 seats in the 105-member chamber.

Republicans will take 50 House seats when new terms begin in January, and independents will hold two seats, according to unofficial results from the secretary of state’s office.

“There were a couple races that were very close. We were hoping to pick up a couple more seats, but that’s the nature of the beast,” said Danny Ford, executive director of the Louisiana Democratic Party.

The GOP, which last controlled the House in 1878, had hoped to regain the majority. But though it fell short, the party gained seven seats in the House and will hold a dozen more seats in the chamber than it did when the last terms began in 2004.

James Quinn, executive director of the Republican Party of Louisiana, said he wasn’t disappointed with the runoff results. “I think we’ve made great strides over the last four years,” he said.

The Senate also will maintain its Democratic majority, with 24 Democrats and 15 Republicans in the 39-member chamber.

Most incumbents seeking re-election held onto their jobs. At least one House member was ousted, state Rep. Carla Dartez, D-Morgan City, who angered civil rights leaders after she ended a conversation with the mother of the NAACP’s local president by saying, “Talk to you later, Buckwheat.”

Buckwheat, a black child character in the “Little Rascals” comedies of the 1930s and ‘40s, is considered a racist stereotype. Dartez said she regretted the comment, but local NAACP leaders asked voters to cast ballots for Dartez’s opponent, Republican Joe Harrison.

Dartez’s re-election bid already had been troubled because she was given a summons for improper lane usage after hitting a pedestrian with her vehicle. She failed a field sobriety test but passed a later Breathalyzer test. Meanwhile, Dartez’s husband was indicted for allegations that he hired illegal aliens to work for his construction business.

Dartez’s seat once had been considered a safe win for the Democrats, but the incumbent representative lost to Harrison, a Napoleonville Republican.

“We were disappointed. Carla faced an uphill battle for several different issues,” Ford said.

Both sides acknowledge the majority in the House is slim. Democrats don’t have a big enough majority to be considered a mandate, and they fall well short of the two-thirds vote needed to pass many of the biggest ticket items in the House.

With a Republican governor taking office next year and a Democratic-controlled Legislature, both sides will have to work together, said Shreveport pollster Elliott Stonecipher.

Republicans made huge gains this election cycle. Four years ago, the GOP held just one statewide elected position, but when the new terms begin in 2008, Republicans will control five of the seven statewide elected posts - including the governor’s office, which Bobby Jindal won outright in the primary.

“I think Republicans are close enough that they can claim that they made huge gains and get whatever hype they want for the party,” Stonecipher said.

“Look at the cycle as a whole. It has to be considered a success for the Republican Party. On the statewide level and the legislative level, we’ve gained seats,” Quinn said.

Among other notable legislative races:

-Rep. Jalila Jefferson, daughter of indicted U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., lost to Rep. Cheryl Gray in a bid for a New Orleans-based Senate seat left open by term limits. Both women are Democrats.

-The race to fill the Baton Rouge-based Senate seat currently held by Democrat Cleo Fields appeared to be won by term-limited Rep. Yvonne Dorsey, but it was a tight contest. According to the secretary of state’s complete but unofficial returns, lawyer Jason DeCuir lost by fewer than 100 votes. Fields, a longtime Democratic fixture, wasn’t running because a court ruled that he was barred by term limits from seeking another term - a challenge Fields blames on DeCuir. Fields backed Dorsey. Both Dorsey and DeCuir are Democrats.

-Incumbent Sen. Ann Duplessis, the only incumbent senator seeking re-election who was forced into a runoff, held onto her New Orleans-based seat against the former senator she ousted, Jon Johnson. Both Duplessis and Johnson are Democrats.

-The race to fill an open Shreveport-based Senate seat became a fierce battle between two Republicans: former Rep. Buddy Shaw and term-limited Rep. Billy Montgomery. Montgomery, who switched parties late last year, had been accused of changing parties only because he was seeking the Senate seat in the heavily GOP district. Shaw overwhelmingly defeated Montgomery, getting 57 percent of the vote.

-Former House member and former Democrat Raymond “LaLa” LaLonde, R-Carencro, lost his bid for a House seat representing parts of Lafayette, St. Martin and St. Landry parishes. The winner was Bobby Badon, a Democrat who served two terms on the Carencro City Council.

http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071118/APN/711180511&template=apart

I was doing the breakdown for the seats while you posted that article, Dog. Anyway, here’s some seat by seat analysis including my original post from October’s initial election:

OK, folks, here is the breakdown for the LA House. We have genuine shot at control here in the runoffs:

(105 seats total)

45 Democrats

42 Republicans

1 Independent

16 Dem vs. Republican runoffs

1 Independent vs. Democrat runoff

If we take 13 of the 16 runoffs (or as few as 11 if the Indy votes with the GOP and if the other Indy wins), we can win a 1-seat majority. This excludes ANY party switchers to tip the balance.

Going into the election it was 43 GOP / 60 Dem / 1 Ind (1 Vacancy).

*LA HOUSE UPDATED ELECTION RETURNS PING*

Updated totals after yesterday’s runoff:

Of the 16 Dem vs. Republican runoffs, we won 8 to their 8, falling 3 seats short of tying the Dems. Many of the races we lost were heartbreakingly close.

Of the 1 Independent vs. Democrat, the Independent won.

Overall, the Dems lost 7 seats and we gained 7.

*We picked up the Dem open seats in the 7th, 14th, 23rd, 24th (Dem Spkr Joe Salter’s open seat) & 57th.

*We beat the incumbent Dem Carla “Buckwheat” Dartez in the 51st.

*We lost an open Republican seat to the Dems in the 54th by only 119 votes. (We previously lost an open seat in the 95th when 2 Dems got in a runoff, which didn’t count in yesterday’s runoffs).

*The Dems lost an open seat to an Independent in the 55th.

*We lost no Republican incumbents.

The Dems, excluding the Independents, will have only a 1 seat majority in the House.

The breakdown for the January session will be:

53 Democrats

50 Republicans

2 Independents

The Senate runoffs, of which there were just 4 Dem vs. GOP contests. As with the House races, we split the difference. The Dems won 2, we won 2.

*The Dems held their open 7th.

*The Dems picked up the open Republican Craig Romero 22nd seat (we lost by only 51-49% or 568 votes)

*We held our open 25th.

*We picked up the Dem open 32nd district.

**We previously lost the 5th & 30th dists. when 2 Dems made the runoff. (Ex-Dem Congressman Buddy Leach lost a bid to return to the legislature by 52-48%).

The GOP ultimately made only a paltry 1 seat gain going into this election, and the Dems will hold the Senate by a wide enough margin that control isn’t in doubt.

24 Democrats (down from 25)

15 Republicans (up from 14)