Turnover in the Louisiana House of Representatives, and to a lesser degree in the Senate, is the story that just keeps on giving for political reporters.
“Personally, I’ve never seen an abandon-ship mentality run so strong in any elected body that I’ve covered during the past 18 years,” Jeremy Alford writes in his latest column.
In fact, the trend of lawmakers exiting the Legislature this term could easily be transformed into a public service campaign, he says.
Alford writes that before a hot-shot marketing firm could get the gig his team at LaPolitics got out in front of the issue, crunched the numbers and developed a tagline for the campaign: “For each session held, Louisiana loses 1.6 legislators.”
It also carries a tune similar to all of the coastal restoration advocacy out there.
“We’ve also developed the following four, easy-to-digest takeaways that can be used for digital outreach and push cards,” Alford writes.
- State Rep. Rob Shadoin, R-Ruston, resigned last week, becoming the 16th member of the Louisiana Legislature to prompt a special election since January 2015.
- Another eight House members are running for different jobs this fall, meaning the body’s turnover this term could potentially reach as high as 20%.
- If that’s the case, prepare for some committee shifts in the House. The leadership has already been looking ahead to the possibility.
- The sinking-ship vibe in the lower chamber has kicked off a slow but notable transfer of power to the body’s newest members, who could collectively become a force. As of Thursday morning, the members elected since 2015 represented 40% of the entire House.
So is legislative erosion a real problem? It depends who you are: Capitol insiders are taking more of an interest than average voters, for example—at least for now.
Jeremy Alford publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter, or on Facebook. He can be reached at JJA@LaPolitics.com.
