Elections for Federal offices, as in the rest of the country, occurred on November 2. The Primaries were held on August 28 with arunoff for the Republican U.S. House nomination occurring on October 2 inLouisiana's 3rd congressional district (no other primaries went to a runoff).
Louisiana'sClass III U.S. Senate seat and all seven U.S. House seats were up for election.
SenatorDavid Vitter (R) sought re-election. Vitter overcame intraparty opposition in the August primary and was opposed in the General election by U.S. RepresentativeCharlie Melancon (D).
Six of the seven members of Louisiana's House delegation sought re-election. Both before and after the elections, Republicans held six of Louisiana's U.S. House seats while Democrats held one seat, but the lone Democratic seat changed from theLouisiana's 2nd congressional district to the 3rd. Many political prognosticators regarded the races in the Second and Third districts as the most competitive.
The State of Louisiana usually holds its general elections for state offices in post-midtermoff-years. Elections for state and local offices, unlike federal elections, are conducted under thejungle primary (also known as nonpartisan blanket primary) format and are usually held in mid-October.[1]
Besides various local elections andspecial electionslegislative seats and other positions, ballots in Louisiana during 2010 concerned a special election forlieutenant governor, for thejudiciary, and for certain referendums (includingamendments to thestate constitution) and other measures.
Lt. GovernorMitch Landrieu's (D) election as Mayor of New Orleans created a vacancy, thus necessitating aspecial election.Scott Angelle (D) was appointed by GovernorBobby Jindal (R) in May to fill the vacancy until the conclusion of the special election. Angelle agreed to do the job only until it was filled via the special election for the remainder of the term to which Landrieu had been elected; thus Angelle did not qualify for that election.[2]
The special election cycle began with the 2010 October 2jungle primary, which pittedRepublicansJay Dardenne, Kevin Davis,Sammy Kershaw,Melanie J. McKnight, andRoger Villere andDemocrats James "Jim" Crowley, Caroline Fayard, andButch Gautreaux. Dardenne and Fayard advanced to thegeneral election.
Throughout the campaign leading up to theprimary election, Villere had been especially critical of Dardenne. Thus Villere's subsequent endorsement of Dardenne was met with incredulous statements like those ofpolitical scientist Pearson Cross of theUniversity of Louisiana at Lafayette:
Subsequently,Louisiana Republican Party officials declined to give state party funds to Dardenne's campaign, even as theLouisiana Democratic Party paid $209,936 for atelevision commercial as an "in-kind donation" supporting Fayard.[4] The Louisiana Republican Party continued to ignore Dardenne's campaign even as theLouisiana Democratic Party raised its support of Fayard to $423,000.[5] Between the primary and the general election Fayard exceeded Dardenne in both fundraising and spending, a situation fostered significantly by the Louisiana Democratic Party's donations in support of Fayard while the Louisiana Republican Party declined to open its pursestrings for Dardenne.[6] Ultimately the Louisiana Democratic Party spent $770,000 on Fayard's campaign.[7] Louisiana's RepublicangovernorBobby Jindal also declined to involve himself in either the election for lieutenant governor or the election forU.S. Senator between Republican incumbentDavid Vitter and the challenging Democrat,U.S. RepresentativeCharlie Melancon.[8]
Among other discussions, Dardenne and Fayard appeared on the October 15Louisiana: The State We're In magazine televised byLouisiana Public Broadcasting and on an October 22 forum sponsored by theBaton RougeLeague of Women Voters.[9]
Therunoff campaigns for thegeneral election on November 2 between Dardenne and Fayard, soon turnedvitriolic, with Dardenne describing Fayard as a supporter ofU.S. PresidentBarack Obama andsame-sex marriage and an opponent of thedeath penalty, while Fayard, who was 32 years of age and had never held political office, attempted to deflect the Republican tide by claiming that Dardenne represented the legacy ofLouisiana politics.[10]Times-Picayune columnist Stephanie Grace opined that
Besides contributions to Clinton, Kerry, formerstate senatorCleo Fields, and formerU.S. RepresentativeWilliam J. Jefferson, a Dardenne commercial criticized Fayard's previous employment byGoldman Sachs, which later received afederal bailout: "Analysts like Fayard got rich but cost us billions." Fayard countered: We have been hit hard byhurricanes, andBP and themoratorium. Our people are tired of being ignored." Fayard's commercial ended with an assertion that Fayard, merely somewhat more than half Dardenne's age, was not part of "the same old crowd" ofLouisiana politics.[12] Fayard came after Dardenne for "earning outside income" by maintaining alaw practice, which Dardenne said was only for "some limited legal work for longtime clients and some mediation work, but not on state time." When Fayard pledged to spend "110 percent" of her time as lieutenant governor, Dardenne called Fayard's pledge "a cheap political stunt."[13]
In the October 22 forum sponsored by the Baton Rouge League of Women Voters, Fayard continued to knock Dardenne's outside income, and Dardenne responded that Fayard had voted in just seven of the previous 14 elections.[14] In response to Dardenne's question on where the money came from when she lent her campaign over $400,000 but had indicated her 2009 income as less than $80,000, Fayard responded that she had followed "every ethical rule" and that the money came from "success."[15]
Television commercials by the two candidates intensified in number and acrimony during the week before the runoff.[16] A Darden commercial criticized Fayard's assigning, in response to a forum question, a grade of "B+" toPresidentBarack Obama's performance while "F" was the grade assigned by Dardenne.[17]
Dardenne won the November 2 election. Darden's elevation to lieutenant governor was delayed formally and officially to 2010 November 22 to obviate a statutory requirement to hold aspecial election to fill the position of secretary of state. Thus on November 22 Darden's chief deputyTom Schedler became secretary of state.[18]
In the backdrop of Dardenne's high name recognition and established reputation and the uphill battle manyDemocrats were facing around the country in the 2010 elections, theThink Tank withGarland Robinettetalk radio program speculated that Fayard, as a savvy candidate, had little or nothing to lose in thelieutenant governor race and that she might prove to be the most effective candidate theLouisiana Democratic Party could offer in 2011 as an alternative toRepublicangovernorBobby Jindal. The discussion cited Jindal's highapproval ratings and already in-the-bank $7 millioncampaign fund as unapproachable assets for Democrats other than Fayard.[19] Fayard did not run, and the leading Democrat in the 2011 race wasTara Hollis of Thibodaux with 17% of the vote.
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 First round parish results Runoff parish resultsDardenne: 20–30% 30–40% 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% Fayard: 20–30% 30–40% 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% Kershaw: 20–30% 30–40% 40–50% 50–60% Davis: 20–30% 30–40% 40–50% Crowley: 20–30% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Jay Dardenne | 180,944 | 27.61 | ||
| Democratic | Caroline Fayard | 159,507 | 24.34 | ||
| Republican | Sammy Kershaw | 126,166 | 19.25 | ||
| Republican | Kevin Davis | 51,542 | 7.86 | ||
| Democratic | Jim Crowley | 51,461 | 7.85 | ||
| Republican | Roger Villere | 44,096 | 6.73 | ||
| Democratic | Butch Gautreaux | 25,289 | 3.86 | ||
| Republican | Melanie McKnight | 16,411 | 2.50 | ||
| Turnout | 655,416 | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Jay Dardenne | 719,271 | 57.09 | ||
| Democratic | Caroline Fayard | 540,649 | 42.91 | ||
| Turnout | 1,259,920 | ||||
The Louisiana judicial elections of 2010 consisted of multiple dates. There were elections on February 6 (for one Louisiana District Courts seat), March 27 (three District Court seats), August 28, 2010 (political primary, no judges on ballot), and October 2 (in which one Louisiana Supreme Court seat and thirteen Louisiana Courts of Appeal seats were up for election). Judicial elections in Louisiana are conducted with the political party affiliation of the candidate indicated on the ballot.[20]
Numerous measures were on the ballots on October 2 and November 2.[21]
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