Ballotpedia's 2012 General Election Preview Articles: Louisiana Congressional Seats
October 30, 2012
By Ballotpedia's Congressional team
| Louisiana's Congressional Elections in 2012 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Senate Election? | U.S. House seats | Possible competitive races? | |
| No | 6 | 1(3rd) | |
BATON ROUGE: Louisiana: Louisiana has six U.S. House seats and on the ballot in 2012. All six U.S. House incumbents face at least two challengers in the November election.
Louisiana lost a seat in redistricting, leaving seven members of Congress with only six seats to run for in 2012.[1] The 3rd District will now stretch from the Texas border to Iberia and St. Martin parishes.[1] Currently, six of the seven Congressional seats in Louisiana are held by Republicans, with the other being held by a Democratic incumbent.
Unlike most states, Louisiana uses the blanket primary - under this system all candidates, regardless of party, run in the same primary. A candidate can be declared the overall winner of the seat by garnering more than 50 percent of the vote in the primary. However, if no candidate reaches this threshold, then a general election runoff will take place on December 8, 2012 between the top-two vote getters.
The incumbent left without a district was Jeff Landry (R) of the 3rd District, whose southeastern Louisiana region was split four ways. The 3rd District, as a result of redistricting will be a largely new territory and without a significant portion of Landry's current district.[2] No longer in Landry’s district are Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes.[2] Under the new lines, Landry will live in Charles Boustany's (R) new expanded district.[1] The incumbents will face each other in the primary for the 3rd District on November 6, 2012, with Boustany considered the frontrunner.[2]
The race has led to each incumbent garnering support of Super PACs. Freedomworks America has been running ads supportive to Landry, spending over $300,000. While the American Hospital Association PAC has been running ads in support of Boustany, spending nearly $200,000.[3] Boustany is leading in fundraising efforts.[4]
In Louisiana all polls are open from 6:00 AM to 8:00 PM Central Time.[5]
See also: State Poll Opening and Closing Times (2012)
Here is a complete list of U.S. House candidates appearing on the general election ballot in Louisiana:
Candidates running by District
1st Congressional District
Primary candidates
2nd Congressional District
Primary candidates
3rd Congressional District
General election candidates
Charles Boustany Jr. (I) 
- Jeff Landry (I)
Primary candidates
Ron Richard:[6]- Jeff Landry: Incumbent Advanced to general election
- Charles Boustany Jr.: Incumbent from the defunct 7th District Advanced to general election
- Bryan Barrilleaux[6]
Jim Stark[6]
4th Congressional District
Primary candidates
- John Fleming: Incumbent
- Randall Lord[6]
5th Congressional District
Primary candidates
- Rodney Alexander: Incumbent
- Clay Steven Grant[6]
Ron Ceasar[6]
6th Congressional District
Primary candidates
Partisan breakdown by district
| Members of the U.S. House from Louisiana -- Partisan Breakdown | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | As of November 2012 | After the 2012 Election | |
| Democratic Party | 1 | 1 | |
| Republican Party | 6 | 5 | |
| Total | 7 | 6 | |
Comparison of new and old redistricting maps
| Congressional Redistricting Map, approved April 2011
For more information, view Redistricting in Louisiana. |
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Articles
See also
- United States House of Representatives elections in Louisiana, 2012
- Ballotpedia:2012 general election preview articles
- November 6, 2012 election results
- United States Congressional election results, 2012
- Louisiana's 1st Congressional District elections, 2012
- Louisiana's 2nd Congressional District elections, 2012
- Louisiana's 3rd Congressional District elections, 2012
- Louisiana's 4th Congressional District elections, 2012
- Louisiana's 5th Congressional District elections, 2012
- Louisiana's 6th Congressional District elections, 2012
- Louisiana elections, 2012
- National contested primary average during the 2012 U.S. congressional elections
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Roll Call, "Race Ratings: Primaries Are What to Watch in Louisiana" accessed February 28, 2012
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Politico, "Louisiana map sets up incumbent clash," April 13, 2011 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "politico" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ The Times-Picayune, "Jeff Landry and Charles Boustany draw Super PAC support for 3rd District race," October 23, 2012
- ↑ The Advocate, "District 3 race 'charged'," October 25, 2012
- ↑ Louisiana Secretary of State, "Voting" (dead link)
- ↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 6.11 6.12 6.13 6.14 Louisiana Secretary of State "Candidate Database," accessed August 15, 2012
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