Louisiana State House
We make our way back to Louisiana for a look at the state's 2014 Senate race. We have the results calculated by state House, Senate, and congressional district for the December runoff between defeated Democratic incumbent Mary Landrieu and now-GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy, as well as the 2012 presidential contest. As a bonus, we also have the November jungle primary between Landrieu, Cassidy, and tea partying Republican Rob Maness. You can find our master list of states here. We've included Stephen Wolf's interactive state legislative maps for the Pelican State, and be sure to check out the rest here.
While Landrieu had a reputation as a formidable campaigner, she faced long odds winning a fourth term during a GOP wave in a state that Romney carried 58-41. Landrieu's 56-44 loss only delivered her the heavily Democratic LA-02, with the state's other five congressional districts backing Cassidy. The closest seat was LA-04, which backed Cassidy 58-42 two years after giving Romney a similar 59-40 margin.
Landrieu carried 36 of the state's 105 state House seats, five more than Obama carried two years before. Landrieu improved on Obama's margin in 93 House districts, and showed the biggest gain in HD-54, one of the reddest-Democratic held seats in the nation. Romney carried this district, located on the Bayou southwest on New Orleans, 81-17, while Cassidy took it 66-34.
Head below the fold for a look at the state Senate.
Things weren't too different in the state Senate. Landrieu took 13 of the 39 seats, two more than Obama. She showed the most improvement over the president in Republican Norby Chabert's SD-20, which takes up much of the same territory as the aforementioned HD-54: While Romney won the seat 73-25, Cassidy carried it 63-37. (Chabert actually helped re-elect Landrieu back when he was a Democrat, and even thought about running against her last cycle).
The entire state legislature is up this fall, and the GOP is in no danger of losing its 59-44 House majority (two independents also sit in the chamber) or its 26-13 Senate edge. Two House Democrats sit in seats that went for Romney and Landrieu, while 12 hold districts that voted for both Republicans. On the GOP side, Tom Willmott is the only member to represent an Obama-Landrieu district. However, three other metro New Orleans Republicans hold Romney-Landrieu seats. Both independents represent seats that easily went for both Romney and Cassidy.
On the Senate side, only two Democrats hold Romney-Cassidy constituencies. One of them is Eric LaFleur, who is frequently mentioned as a rising star. (This 2011 ad helps demonstrate why). The other is Ben Nevers, who is termed-out this year. Only one Democrat, Gary Smith, represents a Romney-Landrieu district. On the GOP side of the aisle, Elbert Guillory holds an Obama-Landrieu district. However, Guillory was last elected as a Democrat, and his seat should return to the blue fold now that he's leaving to run for lieutenant governor. Powerful state Senate President John Alario is the only Landrieu-Republican in the chamber.
Turning to the November jungle primary, Landrieu took a 42-41 plurality against Cassidy, with Maness picking up 14 percent. Maness has flirted with a 2016 run for Senate or LA-01, and we decided to take a look at his performance last year. Maness took 17 percent in the 1st District, not too much better than his statewide showing. He scored his highest percentage in HD-74, located on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. Maness's 24 percent allowed him to edge Landrieu out of second place, though Cassidy was far ahead with 50.
Maness also took second place in four other House seats and two Senate districts, but always at Landrieu's expense. He did come close to outpolling Cassidy in a few heavily Democratic seats where there aren't many Republicans to go around.