Mercifully for voters who had been through enough already, the runoff in the 3rd Congressional District, won by Congressman Charles Boustany over Congressman Jeff Landry, was waged with far less of the rancor and venom that marred the primary. It may be that the two Acadiana Republican incumbents, pitted against each other by redistricting, could see what was coming down the stretch, when polls showed Democrats, not surprisingly, moving in droves to the more moderate Boustany, who ran well with Republicans, too. The Boustany-Landry election turned out to be the most expensive U.S. House campaign in state history, with about $6 million spent between the two, not counting independent expenditures by outside PACs. Having won 60% of votes in his redrawn congressional district, Boustany, 56, likely has a safe seat for as long as he wants to keep it. The race in the 3rd District also was the last congressional election in the country decided in this cycle. The next cycle has begun, starting with fundraising, which never ends. One member has won his next election already. Congressman Steve Scalise, R-Metairie, pulled an upset by winning the chairmanship of the Republican Study Committee, a coalition of more conservative members within the GOP Caucus. The more moderate of the two finalists, Scalise was not anointed by the group’s founders and past chairman, but he out-campaigned his rival. Read the full column here.
(John Maginnis publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com.)
