‘LaPolitics’: Will increased spending by political parties matter in Louisiana?

The U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down limits on how much money political parties can spend in coordination with candidates.

The decision in National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Commission appears to boost the importance of the major parties, which have been increasingly overshadowed by nominally independent entities that can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money. It might even help the Republicans in the midterms.

But in Louisiana, the impact probably won’t be very significant, at least in the near future.

“The Louisiana Campaign Finance Disclosure Act does not place any limitations on contributions to candidates by a recognized political party, so I do not expect the case to have any impact on state campaigns,” Louisiana Board of Ethics administrator David Bordelon says.

In theory, the national parties can now spend freely to support any of Louisiana’s congressional candidates. But the state doesn’t have any swing districts, and Congresswoman Julia Letlow is heavily favored to win her race for the U.S. Senate, so there’s not much incentive for either party to expend their resources here.

“Until we have a highly contested federal election where one or both of the parties want to spend lots of money, it’s really not going to have much impact on Louisiana at all,” says political strategist Trey Ourso, a former executive director of the Louisiana Democratic Party.

Derek Babcock, who chairs the Louisiana Republican Party, isn’t taking Letlow’s race against Democrat Jamie Davis for granted. He says Democrats are “highly motivated,” as shown by how they’ve been showing up to defeat Republicans’ constitutional amendments.

The decision is likely to reduce the influence of super PACs and 501(c)(4)s, Babcock says. While the party still can’t earmark a donor’s money for a specific candidate, “the ability to coordinate with candidates is huge,” he says.

From a national perspective, the decision likely favors Republicans, at least in the short term. The GOP and its main campaign arms both have more cash than their Democratic counterparts, and the Democratic National Committee is “dysfunctional” under current chair Ken Martin, according to Democratic strategist James Carville.

And Democrats generally lean more on small-dollar donations and have fewer wealthy donors who can write big checks to the party.

“I think it would stand to reason that a ruling like this would probably, at least in the short term, work to the benefit of Republicans,” Ourso says.

Randal Gaines, who chairs the Louisiana Democratic Party, says the ruling “removes essential guardrails from national campaign financing.”

“It widens the door on the threat of political corruption and further obscures and silences the voices of our everyday voters,” he says.

Jeremy Alford publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter, or Facebook. He can be reached at JJA@LaPolitics.com.