Louisiana’s unexciting 2024 election season ended mostly with a wimper, discouraging political consultants and media outlets that endured races with little competition and controversy that stimulated less spending for their services and an early end to almost all further opportunities.
That’s because any national or state race of consequence ended this election day with little suspense. With the Supreme Court contest already decided through litigation, Republican state Sen. Jean-Paul Coussan rolled over the competition to secure the Public Service Commission District 2 post (and a good thing he won’t take office until next year, as GOP Gov. Jeff Landry can use every vote from the political right in the Legislature to help his fiscal reform package into being during the special session beginning this week). That reinforces the PSC’s Republican majority of 3-2.
This was the biennial interval without a Senate race, and all congressional incumbents won back their seats handily. In the one race not featuring any the only question was whether black Democrat state Sen. Cleo Fields would win outright without a runoff in a majority-minority district built for him (for now) when he headed the Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee. He did – barely over black Republican former state Sen. Elbert Guillory.
While Guillory trailed 51-38, he won all but three of the ten fragmented parishes that comprise the district running from Shreveport to Baton Rouge. But the three in Fields’ column were the two largest and the fifth, respectively East Baton Rouge (his home base), Caddo, and Lafayette. This gives the state two black Democrats in Congress for the first time in nearly a decade.
Much of the state will vote only on four uncontroversial amendments in December as a result of these contests’ resolutions. But still left is the most exciting battle of the entire cycle, for mayor-president of East Baton Rouge Parish. Metropolitan Council elections also occurred, only half of which were contested, four of which were settled and the remaining two likely to split between the two major parties (one of these being the only race where both major parties squared off against each other) leaving Republicans with a 7-5 advantage.
The contest for top dog will feature incumbent black Democrat Sharon Weston Broome against former football coach Republican Sid Edwards, who led her 34-31. He has a decent chance of knocking her off because even as 59 percent of the vote went to Democrats, for some sentiment was very anti-incumbent. The key may be how activists behind third place Democrat former state Rep. Ted James line up; he is a black in a district with a small white plurality who gave the Democrat presidential ticket a win by about 10 percentage points. Also helping Edwards will be an election in the new city of St. George from where he disproportionately will draw votes.
So, there might be full employment for electioneers around Baton Rouge, but just about every body else will enjoy a quiet holiday season as a capper to a dull electoral cycle.
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