NEW ORLEANS - CUNA-backed Republican State Rep. Steve Scalise easily won election in last week’s special race for the state’s First District House seat, which was vacated last year by Bobby Jindal after he was elected governor.
Scalise, who received the maximum allowable $10,000 contribution from CUNA, beat Democrat Gilda Reed, a University of New Orleans professor, tallying up 75% of the vote for the win.
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.
Baker was well known in credit union circles and chaired the Financial Services Subcommittee on Government Sponsored Enterprises, as he led the effort to tighten control over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
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 pitched in with a $5,000 contribution to Cazayoux.
