Although most U.S. House of Representatives seats in Louisiana (with the exception of the 2nd Congressional District) are considered tough for the Democratic Party to challenge, State Representative Robert Johnson has nevertheless declared himself as a candidate for the special election race to replace retiring Congressman Rodney Alexander in Louisiana's 5th Congressional District.
http://theadvocate.com/...
WASHINGTON — State Rep. Robert Johnson, D-Marksville, said Wednesday that he will run for the 5th Congressional District seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-Quitman.
Johnson, who will discuss his plans Thursday at Marksville High School, becomes the first announced Democrat in the race who could receive support from the Louisiana Democratic Party as the party seeks to claim another seat in Congress.
In addition, it appears Johnson has been receiving a lot of calls and encouragement to run in this race:
http://theadvocate.com/...
Johnson, who is a Loyola University-educated lawyer, said in an interview Tuesday that he decided to run after receiving an outpouring of encouragement and phone calls.
“This is something I’ve always wanted … and now it’s before us,” said Johnson, who was first elected to the Louisiana House in 2007.
In discussing his competition, Johnson noted that Riser “came out extremely early.”
“I know there are suspicions,” Johnson said. “The people of the 5th Congressional District are very smart and they see what’s going on.”
To my knowledge, there are also potential other party candidates but at least it appears that Robert Johnson is the first officially declared Democratic candidate.
According to the Advocate, there are other potential candidates.
Alexandria Mayor Jacques Roy
Monroe Mayor Jamie Mayo
State Senator Rick Gallot
State Representative Marcus Hunter
Monroe lawyer Charles Kincaid, who considers himself the "unabashed, unapologetic liberal" candidate
However, given this is a special election and that the LA-05 district is deep red, there's little time for there to be a primary race while at the same time an eventual Democratic candidate having time to officially challenge the eventual GOP candidate nominated.
Also, although Congressman Rodney Alexander is retiring and taking a position in the Bobby Jindal administration as the secretary of the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs, it should be noted that in 2012 not a single Democrat emerged to challenge Alexander for re-election. One Republican emerged to challenge him but Alexander cruised on to winning 77% of the votes.
Yes, very predictable indeed.
http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/...
However, it should also be worth noting that this is a special election race and given the real 2014 race for the LA-05 seat happens after the special election, the Democrats in Louisiana really have nothing to lose by firing up the troops here.
I mean, why not build the base in LA-05?