Clay Higgins, who made his name with a series of viral Crime Stoppers videos, is in a runoff for Louisiana's open 3rd District seat. (Screengrab)
Clay Higgins, better known by his Internet moniker Cajun John Wayne, was taped telling his ex-wife getting elected to Congress would help pay back thousands of dollars in child support.
Higgins is one of two Republicans in the runoff race to fill retiring Louisiana Rep. Charles Boustany Jr.'s congressional seat.
Louisiana Republican Senate candidate John Kennedy greets a guest at his election night party in Baton Rouge on Nov. 8. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Though increased national attention and a late cash influx has buoyed Foster Campbell’s bid for Louisiana's open Senate seat, experts say Republican rival John Kennedy has the race all but locked up.
Campbell, a longtime Public Service Commissioner and self-proclaimed "pro-gun, pro-life" Democrat," will face off against State Treasurer John Kennedy in a Saturday runoff election.
Left to right, Rosemary Geraghty, Aimee Murphy, Christina Healy and Maria Oswalt of Life Matters Journal. (Melinda Henneberger/CQ Roll Call)
PHILADELPHIA — The pro-life Democrats trying in vain to point out the self-defeating down-ballot and state-level results of their party’s increasing hostility toward them were not quite as NARAL Pro-Choice America president Ilyse Hogue described from the podium on Wednesday night.
“And the people who so loudly oppose abortion rights? Let me let you into their dirty little secret,’’ Hogue told the crowd. “It’s not abortion that bothers them; it’s empowering women to live their own lives.”
Vitter thanks supporters during his election night watch party in Kenner, La., on Saturday. (Max Becherer/AP Photo)
Republican Sen. David Vitter said he will not seek re-election next year after his stunning loss to Democrat John Bel Edwards in the Louisiana governor's race.
"I came up short tonight," he told supporters at his election night watch party in Kenner, La.
Vitter speaks to reporters after Monday's debate in Baton Rouge. (Gerald Herbert/AP Photo)
As Louisiana voted Saturday in the runoff election for governor, Sen. David Vitter flooded the three-parish New Orleans metro area with robocalls striking a contrite tone: “I humbly ask for your vote.”
To Republican strategist James Farwell, who lives in New Orleans and has a long record of working with Newt Gingrich, Vitter’s self-defending TV ads with his family in the campaign's final days are a sign of how well Democrat John Bel Edwards' campaign executed its strategy.
(Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)
Reeling from months of attacks about his 2007 prostitution scandal, Republican Sen. David Vitter released a new TV ad offering voters an apology in the final days of his Louisiana gubernatorial campaign.
"Fifteen years ago, I failed my family but found forgiveness and love,” Vitter said directly to the camera. "Our falls aren't what define us, but rather how we get up, accept responsibility and earn redemption." https://www.youtube.com/embed/yImv6dnzNl4
Vitter is trailing in the race to become Louisiana's next governor. (File Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
Updated: 5:46 p.m. | Among some Republicans in Louisiana, Republican Sen. David Vitter's candidacy for governor is drawing comparisons to an election with an unpopular nominee more than two decades ago that divided the party.
“What I keep hearing from folks – neighbors and other parents at the school – is, ‘this is going to be the first time since 1991 that I vote Democrat. I just can’t vote for that guy,’” said one Louisiana Republican operative. The Pelican State – with its free-for-all, jungle primary system – has a unique history of troubled nominees and intra-party feuds. During the 1991 race, for example, state Rep. David Duke – a man who openly associated with Nazi groups and served as the grand wizard of Ku Kluk Klan during the 1970s – was the party's standard-bearer for governor.
Vitter made it to the state's gubernatorial runoff. Now, the hard part has begun for the state's Democrats. (File Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
Though he received enough support to advance to a runoff next month, more than 850,000 of the 1.1 million people who voted last weekend in Louisiana pulled the lever for someone other than Republican Sen. David Vitter.
Ahead of the Nov. 21 vote — where the veteran politician who has weathered big storms before will face Louisiana House Democratic Leader John Bel Edwards – Vitter's goal is clear: Convincing most of the 381,000 voters who supported his Republican opponents that he is a good second choice. "It's too many of the Baton Rouge politicians that have failed us," Vitter told supporters on election night , his opening play against his sole rival. His campaign is already trying to tie Edwards directly to President Barack Obama, who is unpopular in the state.
Despite troubles, Vitter poised to emerge in run-off after Saturday's election. (File Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
A week that began with the new allegations involving a former New Orleans escort against Sen. David Vitter will end with the Republican’s appearance on the ballot Saturday in Louisiana’s heated contest to replace the state’s term-limited governor, Republican Bobby Jindal.
But despite the intense focus on Vitter’s personal woes by his opponents and outside groups, he is on the cusp of weathering the storm yet again. At least until a runoff next month.
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