NEW ORLEANS – CUNA-backed Republican State Rep. Steve Scalise easily won election in Saturday’s special race for the state’s First District House seat, vacated last year by Bobby Jindal, who was elected governor.
Scalise, who received the maximum allowable $10,000 contribution from CUNA, beat Democrat Gilda Reed, a University of New Orleans professor, with 75% of the vote.
More significant though was Democrat Don Cazayoux’s victory in the race for the Sixth District seat held by Republicans for more than 20 years, the last 23 years by Richard Baker, who resigned mid-term to become a lobbyist for the securities industry.
Cazayoux’s win was the second in two months for Democrats in a bellwether race, following March’s Democratic victory in Illinois to fill the House seat occupied by former House Speaker Dennis Hastert for 23 years.
CUNA did not participate in the race for Baker’s seat.
