Posted March 23, 2021 | by KimS | in DemDaily, House, Special Elections

DemDaily: Louisiana’s 2nd CD Goes To A Run-Off

March 23, 2021

Two of this year's five schedule congressional special elections were held in Louisiana last Saturday, securing a Republican succession in one, and guaranteeing a Democratic victory in the other, which goes to a runoff next month.

The partisan breakdown of the 117th Congress of the US House of Representatives, which stands at 222 Democrats to 213 Republicans (including the vacancies) was unaffected by the outcome of the March 20th special elections.

In Louisiana's Second Congressional District special election last Saturday, Democrats Troy Carter and Karen Carter Peterson took the top two slots to advance to an April 24th run-off.

In Louisiana, all candidates compete in the same election. If no one receives 50+% of vote, it goes to a runoff (WWLTV)

They are vying to succeed Congressman Cedric Richmond, who resigned in January to join the Biden administration as Senior Advisor to President Biden and Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement.

Carter, the current State Senate Minority Leader who is endorsed by Richmond, received 36% of the vote (34,396 votes) to fellow State Senator Peterson's 23% (21,670 votes).

Both represent portions of New Orleans, which is the heart of the heavily Democratic 2nd CD.

In the open jungle election, Democratic media entrepreneur Gary Chambers came in third, with 21%, followed by 12 other candidates, including four Republicans, five Democrats, one Libertarian and two independents.

The special election for Louisiana's Fifth Congressional District was also held Saturday, with GOP candidate Julia Letlow sweeping nearly 65% of the vote followed by social worker Candy Christophe (D) who secured 27.3%. Republican Chad Conerly garnered just over 5%, while the remaining seven Republicans and two Independents all earned less than 1%.

Julia Letlow (LA-5) is the first GOP woman elected to Congress from Louisiana (Brett Duke/AP)

Letlow, an administrative executive assistant at the University of Louisiana Monroe, is filling the seat left open by the death of her late husband, Congressman-elect Luke Letlow, who died of COVID-19 just five days shy of being sworn in to his first term in Congress.

Letlow is the first Republican woman elected to Congress from Louisiana, and is now one of 30 Republican representatives in the House, a record for the GOP.

NEXT UP
With the confirmations of Debra Haaland as Secretary of the Interior, and Marcia Fudge as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, their Congressional seats in New Mexico and Ohio are now officially open.

New Mexico's First Congressional District
District: Central New Mexico, including most of Bernalillo County, all of Torrance County, and parts of Sandoval, Santa Fe and Valencia counties. It encompasses almost three-fourths of Albuquerque and includes the Pueblo of Laguna and Sandia Pueblo outside Albuquerque.
Incumbent: Debra Haaland (D)
Special Election: June 1, 2021, Tuesday

Reyes would be New Mexico's first LGBTQ+ representative

The Candidates: Democrats include Victor Reyes, former Legislative Director for Governor Grisham, and State Senator Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, who lost the 2018 primary to Haaland.

Others include State Representatives Georgene Louis, Patricia Roybal Caballero and Melanie Stansbury, trial attorney Randi McGinn, filmmaker Francisco Fernández and community organizer Selinda Guerrero.

Republicans include conservative talk radio host Eddy Aragon, State Senator Mark Moores, former 2020 US Senate candidate Elisa Martinez, bookkeeper Michaela Chavez, finance manager Ronnie Lucero, and attorney Jared Vander Dussen.

In lieu of a primary election, Republican, Democratic and possibly Libertarian party nominees will be chosen by fewer than 200 members of each party's central committee.

Ohio's 11th Congressional District
District: Cuyahoga County and Summit County in Northeast Ohio, including most of the majority-black precincts between Cleveland and Akron
Incumbent: Marcia Fudge (D)
Special Election: August 3, 2021, Tuesday

Ohio 11 Contenders Turner, Brown and Johnson (WKYC)

The Candidates: Democrats include former state senator Nina Turner, Cuyahoga County Councillor Shontel Brown, and former State Senator and Cleveland City Councillor Jeff Johnson.

Also running are former State Representatives John Barnes Jr. and Bryan Flannery Jr., former State Senator Shirley Smith, and U.S. Navy vet Tariq Shabazz.

Only one Republican, Businesswoman Laverne Gore, has filed.

Texas 6th Congressional District
District: Based in Arlington, Texas, it includes Ellis and Navarro counties to the south and southeast of the Dallas/Fort Worth area, as well as the southeast corner of Tarrant County.
Incumbent: Ronald Wright (R)
Special Election: May 1, 2021, Saturday

The Candidates
In the competitive contest there are 23 candidates, including 11 Republicans and 10 Democrats, vying to replace the late GOP Congressman Ronald Wright.

2018 Dem candidate Jayna Lynne Sanchez is running again

Leading Democrats include the 2018 Democratic nominee for the seat, Jana Lynne Sanchez, small business owner and former state house candidate Lydia Bean, and Shawn Lassiter, an education nonprofit leader from Fort Worth.

GOP activist and widow of Congressman Ron Wright, Susan Wright, leads the field of Republican contenders, along with State Representative and 2018 congressional candidate Jake Ellzey, former Trump HHS official Brian Harrison, and former Trump SBA official Sery Kim.

PENDING
The battle for southeastern Iowa's 2020 Second Congressional District, where six votes separate Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Democrat Rita Hart, has gone to the US House of Representatives.

The 2nd CD, previously held by retiring incumbent Congressman Dave Loebsack (D) since 2007, is based in Iowa City.

Although Miller-Meeks was provisionally sworn in January 3rd, Hart has contested the election results to the US House Administration Committee. Both campaigns have until March 29th to file written arguments and responses, before the committee reviews the final facts and makes a recommendation.

If the committee recommends the matter to the full House, the chamber will conduct its own full review and hand recount before deciding the outcome by a majority vote.