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Louisiana State Senate elections, 2011
Majority control •Campaign contributions
Competitiveness Analysis
Candidates unopposed by a major party •Primary challenges •Retiring incumbents
Redistricting •Qualifications
List of candidatesDistrict 1 •District 2 •District 3 •District 4 •District 5 •District 6 •District 7 •District 8 •District 9 •District 10 •District 11 •District 12 •District 13 •District 14 •District 15 •District 16 •District 17 •District 18 •District 19 •District 20 •District 21 •District 22•District 23 •District 24 •District 25 •District 26 •District 27 •District 28 •District 29 •District 30 •District 31 •District 32 •District 33 •District 34 •District 35 •District 36 •District 37 •District 38 •District 39
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Primary elections •Statewide elections, 2011 •State legislative special elections, 2011 •State Senate elections •State House elections •Gubernatorial elections, 2011 •2011 ballot measures
Louisiana State Senate

Elections for the office ofLouisiana State Senator were held onNovember 19, 2011. Each of the state's 39 senators were up for election. Members are elected to four-year terms.

The 2011 election was the state's first election under its new legislative maps. Following the 2010 census, the stateredrew its legislative boundaries to account for growth and shifts in the state's population. TheLouisiana State Legislature was responsible for the redistricting process.

Louisiana was one of four states that held state senate elections in 2011. The other three states that have their state Senate elections in odd-numbered years areNew Jersey,Mississippi, andVirginia. Louisiana was the only state to hold its 2011 legislative elections on a Saturday.

Candidates wishing to run for theLouisiana State Senate were required to file theirnominating signatures or candidate filing fees between September 6 and September 8. The state primary election took place on October 22, 2011.

Louisiana elections use theLouisiana majority-vote system. All candidates compete in the same primary, and a candidate can win the election outright by receiving more than 50% of the vote. If no candidate does, the top two vote recipients from the primary advance to the general election, regardless of their partisan affiliation.

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, seethis article.

In the 2011 elections, Republicans retained a majority in the chamber and gained two seats.

See also:Louisiana House of Representatives elections, 2011

General election results

The following candidates won election on October 22, 2011, and November 19, 2011:

Term limits

See alsoState legislatures with term limits andImpact of term limits on state legislative elections in 2011

Of the 15 states, Louisiana was the only state whereterm limits were initiated by the state's legislators rather than through theballot initiative process. Under Louisiana's term limits, state senators can serve no more than three four-year terms.

As of the 2011 election, there were 39Louisiana State Senators. In 2011, six incumbents were ineligible to run for re-election. Of the six of them, five wereDemocratic and one was aRepublican.

In addition to the six state senators who left office because of term limits,10 state representatives were also termed-out.

The six members of the state senate who were ineligible to run in November were:

Impact of redistricting

See also:Redistricting in Louisiana

Every 10 years, the Constitution requires states to redrawCongressional and state legislative districts based on updated Census information. In 2011,Louisiana was the second state to complete its state legislative redistricting. Its 39 senate and 105 house districts were re-drawn by theLegislature and approved by GovernorBobby Jindal.

The State Senate added two new majority-minority districts for the 2011 elections, and moved seats from the New Orleans area, reflecting the loss of population in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The new Senate map had 11 majority-minority districts.

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  Figure 1: This map shows theLouisiana Senate districts after the 2000 census.

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  Figure 2: This map shows theLouisiana Senate districts after the 2010 census.

Majority control

See also:Partisan composition of state senates

Going into the November 2011 elections, theRepublican Party was the majority party in 29 state senates, includingLouisiana. One chamber (Nebraska) is officially nonpartisan. In 19 states, theDemocratic Party were the majority party.

In the other three states with state senate elections in 2011, theDemocratic Party held the majority party inVirginia andNew Jersey, while theRepublican Party held the majority party in theMississippi State Senate.

The partisan composition of the Louisiana State Senate before and after the election:

Competitiveness

Incumbents unopposed by a major party

Eighteen incumbents (46.2%) faced no competition in the November 8 general election.

• 5 Democratic incumbents faced no November challenger.
• 13 Republican incumbents faced no November challenger

2 challengers (one Democrat and one Republican) faced no competition in the November 8 general election.

Primary challenges

Six incumbents faced competition in the October 22 primary.

The following 6 incumbents faced primary opposition:

• District 12: Incumbent DemocratBen Nevers was opposed byMichael Skinner (D) andBeth Mizell (R)
• District 14: Incumbent DemocratYvonne Dorsey was opposed byMichael Jackson (D) andChristopher Toombs (R)
• District 24: Incumbent DemocratElbert Guillory was opposed byDonald Cravins (D) andKelly Scott (D)
• District 30: Incumbent RepublicanJohn Smith was opposed byJames David Cain (R) andTerry Fowler (D)
• District 38: Incumbent RepublicanSherri Smith Cheek was opposed byTroy Terrell (R) andDouglas Day (D)
• District 39: Incumbent RepublicanLydia Jackson was opposed byGregory Tarver (D) andJim Slagle (R)

Retiring incumbents

Nine incumbent senators did not run for re-election, while 30 (76.9%) ran for re-election. Of the 9 incumbents who did not run for re-election, six were Democrats and three were Republicans. Furthermore, six of the retiring incumbents were ineligible to run for re-election due to term limits and one was displaced by redistricting.

Incumbents who retired were:

• District 2: Incumbent DemocratCynthia Willard-Lewis, displaced by redistricting
• District 6: Incumbent RepublicanJulie Quinn
• District 17: Incumbent DemocratRobert Marionneaux, term limited
• District 19: Incumbent DemocratJoel Chaisson, term limited
• District 21: Incumbent DemocratButch Gautreaux, term limited
• District 23: Incumbent RepublicanMichael Michot, term limited
• District 27: Incumbent DemocratWillie Mount, term limited
• District 29: Incumbent DemocratJoe McPherson, term limited
• District 37: Incumbent RepublicanB.L. Shaw

Incumbents displaced by redistricting

One incumbent senator was displaced by the 2011 redistricting process. District 2 Democratic SenatorCynthia Willard-Lewis was displaced and instead ran for election in District 3.

Qualifications

In order to qualify to run for theState Senate, a candidate must:

• Must be 18 years of age or older^[1].
• Must be a resident of the district they seek to hold office to for a minimum of two years^[1].
• Must not have served more than two and one half terms previously in office. This is for any candidate who has held office in the past after January 8, 1996^[2].
• Have not been convicted of a felony offense^[2].
• Have no outstanding fines with theLouisiana Ethics Administration Program^[2].
• Pay a $225 filing fee with the Clerk of Court in the parish they reside in or collect 400 signatures^[3].
• If running as aRepublican orDemocrat, pay an additional $112.50 filing fee with the state and/or parish executive committee of their party^[3].

Campaign contributions

See also:State-by-state comparison of donations to state senate campaigns

This chart shows how many candidates ran for state senate in Louisiana in past years and the cumulative amount of campaign contributions in state senate races, including contributions in both primary and general election contests. All figures come fromFollow The Money.^[4]

The top 10 donors in 2007 were:^[5]

Races to watch

On September 12, 2011, the Louisiana news organizationBayou Buzz issued a report on the top five Louisiana Senate races to watch. They were as follows:^[6]

• District 19 -State Rep. Gary Smith Jr. (D) vs.Garrett Monti (R)
• District 39 -IncumbentLydia Jackson (D) facedJim Slagle (R) andGregory Tarver (D)
• District 14 -IncumbentYvonne Dorsey (D) facedMichael Jackson (D) andChristopher Toombs (R)
• District 28 -IncumbentEric LaFleur (D) vs.Paul Miller (R)
• District 24 -IncumbentElbert Guillory (D) facedKelly Scott (D) andDon Cravins (D)

List of candidates

District 1

October 22 primary:

A.G. Crowe: 15,717 Incumbent Crowe was first elected in 2007

Nita Hutter: 7,025 - Hutter was a term-limited incumbent in theLouisiana House of Representatives

District 2

Note: IncumbentCynthia Willard-Lewis (D) ran for election in District 3.

October 22 primary:

Elton Aubert: 10,932a

Michael Bell: 4,519

Troy Brown: 12,082a

Alfred Carter: 4,966

George Grace Jr.: 2,198

Zaine Kasem: 584

November 19 General election candidates:

Elton Aubert: 11,549

Troy Brown: 12,863

District 3

October 22 primary:

Jean-Paul J. Morrell: 11,280 Incumbent Morrell was first elected in 2007.

Cynthia Willard-Lewis: 9,911 - Willard-Lewis was the incumbent in District 2. She ran in District 3 as a result ofredistricting.

District 4

October 22 primary:

Edwin Murray Incumbent Murray was first elected in 2005.

District 5

October 22 primary:

Karen Peterson Incumbent Peterson was first elected in February 2010.

District 6

Note: IncumbentJulie Quinn (R) did not run for re-election.

October 22 primary:

Mike Mannino: 12,047

Mack White Jr.: 12,886 White was the incumbent in District 64 of theLouisiana House of Representatives.

District 7

October 22 primary:

David Heitmeier Incumbent Heitmeier was first elected in 2007.

District 8

October 22 primary:

John Alario Jr. Incumbent Alario was first elected in 2007.

District 9

October 22 primary:

Conrad Appel Incumbent Appel was first elected in 2007.

District 10

October 22 primary:

Daniel Martiny Incumbent Martiny was first elected in 2007.

District 11

October 22 primary:

Jack Donahue Jr.: 19,979 Incumbent Donahue was first elected in 2007.

Gary Leonard: 4,580

District 12

October 22 primary:

Beth Mizell: 14,764

Ben Nevers: 15,116 Incumbent Nevers was first elected in 2003.

Michael SkinnerDid not appear on primary ballot

District 13

October 22 primary:

Derek Babcock: 10,785

Dale Erdey: 19,831 Incumbent Erdey was first elected in 2007.

District 14

October 22 primary:

Yvonne Dorsey: 9,373 Incumbent Dorsey was first elected in 2007.

Michael Jackson: 4,540

Christopher Toombs: 2,197

District 15

October 22 primary:

Sharon Weston Broome Incumbent Broome was first elected in 2005.

District 16

October 22 primary:

Dan Claitor Incumbent Claitor was first elected in 2009.

District 17

Note: IncumbentRobert Marionneaux (D) was ineligible to run because ofterm limits.

October 22 primary:

Larry Thomas: 11,000

Rick Ward III: 25,645

District 18

October 22 primary:

Jody Amedee Incumbent Amedee was first elected in 2003.

District 19

IncumbentJoel Chaisson (D) was ineligible to run because ofterm limits.

October 22 primary:

Garrett Monti: 11,215

Gary Smith Jr.: 16,501

District 20

October 22 primary:

Norby Chabert Incumbent Chabert was first elected in 2009.

District 21

IncumbentButch Gautreaux (D) was ineligible to run because ofterm limits.

October 22 primary:

R.L. Allain II: 14,618

Darrin Guidry: 13,846

District 22

October 22 primary:

Fred Mills, Jr. Incumbent Mills was first elected in 2011.

District 23

IncumbentMichael Michot (R) was ineligible to run because ofterm limits.

October 22 primary:

Patrick Cortez

District 24

October 22 primary:

Donald Cravins: 11,210a

Elbert Guillory: 12,768a Incumbent Guillory was first elected in 2009.

Kelly Scott: 3,550

November 19 General election candidates:

Donald Cravins: 10,504

Elbert Guillory: 13,183

District 25

October 22 primary:

Dan Morrish Incumbent Morrish was first elected in 2007.

District 26

October 22 primary:

Jonathan Perry Incumbent Perry was first elected in February 2011.

District 27

Note: IncumbentWillie Mount (D) was ineligible to run because ofterm limits.

October 22 primary:

Ronnie Johns

District 28

October 22 primary:

Eric LaFleur: 19,392 Incumbent LaFleur was first elected in 2007.

Paul Miller: 13,565

District 29

Note: IncumbentJoe McPherson (D) was ineligible to run because ofterm limits.

October 22 primary:

Rick Gallot: 12,992

Tony Vets: 7,579

Mary Wardsworth: 5,271

District 30

October 22 primary:

James David Cain: 6,628a

Terry Fowler: 5,496

John Smith: 10,216a Incumbent Smith was first elected in 2007.

November 19 General election candidates:

James David Cain: 5,772

John Smith: 8,457

District 31

October 22 primary:

Gerald Long Incumbent Long was first elected in 2007.

District 32

October 22 primary:

Neil Riser Incumbent Riser was first elected in 2007.

District 33

October 22 primary:

Michael Walsworth Incumbent Walsworth was first elected in 2007.

District 34

October 22 primary:

Francis Thompson Incumbent Thopmson was first elected in 2007.

District 35

October 22 primary:

Jeff Guerriero: 13,494

Robert Kostelka: 14,644 Incumbent Kostelka was first elected in 2003.

Note:Harris Brown was on the ballot but dropped out of the race on September 21.^[7]

District 36

October 22 primary:

Robert Adley Incumbent Adley was first elected in 2003.

District 37

Note: IncumbentB.L. Shaw (R) was eligible but did not run for re-election.

October 22 primary:

Barrow Peacock: 10,331

Jane Smith: 8,295

District 38

October 22 primary:

Sherri Smith Cheek: 10,570 Incumbent Cheek was first elected in 2003.

Douglas DayDid not appear on primary ballot

Troy Terrell: 7,912

District 39

October 22 primary:

Lydia Jackson: 9,393a Incumbent Jackson was first elected in 2003.

Jim Slagle: 3,259

Gregory Tarver: 9,015a

November 19 General election candidates:

Lydia Jackson: 8,295

Gregory Tarver: 9,168

External links

• Louisiana Secretary of State
• Louisiana Secretary of State - Official Primary Election Results
• Louisiana Secretary of State - Official General Election Results

See also

• Louisiana State Senate
• Louisiana State Legislature
• State legislative elections, 2011
• Blanket primary

Footnotes