A couple of months back, I wrote a brief, spittle-flecked rant to my fellow Bayou Staters, noting that, of the incumbents in our state’s six congressional districts, only ONE had a declared opponent from the other party, and that was the Democrat Cedric Richmond, in my own home district.
I live in LA-02, the single most Democratic district in the US, and the ‘Pubs felt it worth their while to run a candidate here. Yet, as of the end of March, the Dems had decided to give up on all the quixotic quests awaiting upstate and upriver.
The situation has changed a bit. There are Dem candidates running against ‘Pub incumbents in both LA-03 and LA-06 (Ballotopedia summaries here).
There is one congressoid, though, still running unopposed. Who shouldn’t be, no matter how long the shot against him: Steve Scalise. You remember him, right? Majority whip? “Duke without the baggage?” Forced-birthing, ACA-repealing, Tea-Partying, EPA-defunding, family-leave-and-equal-pay-denying kind of ass? Yeah, that guy. If anyone ever deserved an opponent…
He had one in his first go-round, the lovely and deeply intelligent Gilda W. Reed. Sadly, she didn’t really stand much of a chance in the First. The killer wasn’t the D behind her name so much as the PhD. Duke Country folks don’t always trust all that book learnin’.
But the First is changing. A little. Despite being the home of New Orleans’ original white flight crowd, it has grown almost supernaturally in population in recent decades, especially after the federal flood. The population, particularly on the North Shore of Pontchartrain, ain’t all the Dukkkers it once was.
Honestly, I doubt if a Dem could take the seat from Scalise, but making them work—and spend—for every seat is the whole point of 50-state/Project 90. Every dime they have to spend is a dime they can’t PAC out to a fellow ‘Pub in a tougher race.
And, in a last ditch effort to get a candidate in there, here’s a dime the Dems won’t have to spend: If, in the next 11 days, a Democratic opponent to Scalise steps forward, I’ll donate three web ads of my own making. As many here know, I especially love oppo ads, and Scalise would be a joy to oppose.
Filing ends July 22. My offer stands until that cutoff.