Democrats win Republican House seat in Louisiana special election

The special election was called because the incumbent Republican congressman, Richard Baker, resigned to become a highly paid Washington lobbyist. Cazayoux will fill Bakers seat in the current Congress and becomes the frontrunner to win a full two-year term in the November general election, against Jenkins or some other Republican opponent.

The Republican Party retained the other Louisiana seat contested on May 3, the 1st Congressional District in the suburbs of New Orleans. The incumbent Republican, Bobby Jindal, resigned his seat after he was elected governor of the state last November. State Sen. Steve Scalise defeated college professor Gilda Reed by a margin of 75 percent to 23 percent.

Most state and national media attention, however, was on the more competitive 6th District race, which became a proxy fight between the national Democratic and Republican parties. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into the Cazayoux campaign, allowing him to significantly outspend his Republican rival.