Who will be the next politico to represent Louisiana in the U.S. Senate?
As Jeremy Alford notes in his latest column, the who is not as exciting as the how, and with a large field milling around the seat like a game of musical chairs, the race begins now.
“U.S. Senate seats don’t often come up for grabs, so you can expect 2016 to host a venomous race of nationalized ideas driven by personalities and money. It’ll be dirty, expensive and entertaining. Or, as we like to call it down here, just another year in Louisiana,” Alford says.
With Republican U.S. Sen. David Vitter losing the governor’s race last month to Gov.-elect John Bel Edwards, then announcing he would not seek re-election, the floodgates opened. With confirmed Republican contenders in U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany and U.S. Rep. John Fleming, along with about a half-dozen others reportedly interested in the seat and making some moves toward that end, the race could turn on who can jump on who starts spending first with affiliated public action committees already choosing sides.
“Although third-party support has been a growing trend in Louisiana politics, it’s no longer simply sufficient to have a supportive PAC in your corner; now it’s all about how quickly you can mobilize your forces,” Alford says. “In others words, the money better show up before Santa Claus does.
Then there are the independents who now represent a quarter of the statewide electorate and the Democrats. Troy Hebert, the outgoing Alcohol and Tobacco Control Commissioner who has said he will leave the post at year’s end, is a former state senator and could be a candidate for independent voters to rally around, Alford says. Democrats are looking for the next John Bel Edwards and could have their sights set on state Sen. Gary Smith Jr., Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell and former lieutenant governor candidate Caroline Fayard, Alford writes.
“Will the state Democratic Party try to get behind a single candidate? That helped Edwards earlier this year, but the decision spoke more about his tenacity and forethought than the party’s proactive nature,” Alford writes. “It won’t be as easy this go around.”
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.
