Members of the Long family have continuously held elected office in Louisiana for just over a century, but that era comes to an end on Monday when Republican Gerald Long’s term in the state Senate expires. Long, who is a third cousin of the legendary and controversial Gov. and Sen. Huey Long, acknowledged that he may be the last member of the political dynasty for a while, telling the Monroe News Star, “I don’t have a child or a grandchild or a cousin who is even talking about running for elective office.”
The Long clan first won in 1912 when one of Huey’s brothers, Julius, was elected district attorney in a constituency that included their native Winn Parish, but he never sought higher office. In 1918, though, Huey unseated an incumbent in the Democratic primary, which was the only contest that mattered in Louisiana at the time and for decades to come, to win a spot on the three-person Louisiana Railroad Commission. Huey served there until he was elected governor in 1928 on his second try, and he won a seat in the U.S. Senate two years later. Huey, who remained governor in all but name even when he was in Washington, was fatally wounded by gunfire in the state capitol in 1935 in what may or may not have been an assassination attempt.
Plenty of other members of the Long family would go on to hold state and national office over the next 85 years, though none of them would ever achieve Huey’s fame or infamy. Among the notables were Huey’s wife and Senate successor, Rose, who was the third woman to ever serve in the upper chamber; his brother, Earl, who served three stints as governor; their brother, Rep. George Long; and Huey and Rose’s son, Russell, who was in the Senate from 1948 until he retired in 1987.
A number of more distant relations have also held various offices, including two of Huey’s cousins, Reps. Gillis Long and Speedy Long, as well as several who served in the state legislature. This includes Gerald, whose brother previously spent decades in the state House. Gerald was also the first, and for now the only, Republican office holder in the traditionally Democratic family.
While Louisiana politics was divided into pro-Long and anti-Long factions during Huey’s tenure and for decades after his death, members of the family have often feuded amongst themselves. In 1932, for instance, Earl insisted on running for lieutenant governor against Huey’s chosen candidate, a campaign he lost. Huey himself would say of his younger brother, “If you live long enough, he’ll double-cross you. He’d double-cross Jesus Christ if he was down here on Earth.”
Rep. Gillis Long also lost renomination in 1964 to none other than his considerably more conservative cousin, Speedy Long. The two would later both run for governor in 1971 and lose the Democratic primary to Edwin Edwards, who would leave his own mark on Louisiana politics.
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