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Randal Gaines
Randal Gaines is an officeholder of the Democratic Party of Louisiana Chair.
Gaines (Democratic Party) won re-election to the Louisiana House of Representatives to represent District 57 outright in the primary on October 12, 2019, after the general election was canceled.
Gaines was elected Chair of the Democratic Party of Louisiana in April 2024.[1]
Committee assignments
Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.
2023-2024
Gaines was assigned to the following committees:
- Judiciary Committee, Chairman
2021-2022
Gaines was assigned to the following committees:
- Judiciary Committee, Chair
2019-2020
Gaines was assigned to the following committees:
- Civil Law and Procedure Committee, Vice Chair
- Administration of Criminal Justice Committee
- Judiciary Committee
2015 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Gaines served on the following committees:
| Louisiana committee assignments, 2015 |
|---|
| • Civil Law and Procedure |
| • House and Governmental Affairs |
| • Judiciary |
2012-2013
In the 2012-2013 legislative session, Gaines served on the following committees:
- Civil Law and Procedure
- House and Governmental Affairs
- Judiciary
- House Committee on Homeland Security
- Joint Committee on Homeland Security
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2023
Randal Gaines was not able to file for re-election due to term limits.
2019
See also: Louisiana House of Representatives elections, 2019
Louisiana elections use the majority-vote system. All candidates compete in the same primary, and a candidate can win the election outright by receiving more than 50 percent of the vote. If no candidate does, the top two vote recipients from the primary advance to the general election, regardless of their partisan affiliation.
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Louisiana House of Representatives District 57
Incumbent Randal Gaines won election outright in the primary for Louisiana House of Representatives District 57 on October 12, 2019.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ |  | Randal Gaines (D) |
| ||||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Shondrell Perrilloux (Independent)
2015
Elections for the Louisiana House of Representatives took place in 2015. A primary election was held on October 24, 2015, with a general election held in districts where necessary on November 21, 2015. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was September 10, 2015, at 4:30 p.m. CDT.[2]
Louisiana elections use the Louisiana majority-vote system. All candidates compete in the same primary, and a candidate can win the election outright by receiving more than 50% of the vote. If no candidate does, the top two vote recipients from the primary advance to the general election, regardless of their partisan affiliation.
For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article. Incumbent Randal Gaines (D) was unopposed in the October 24 blanket primary.[3][4]
2011
On November 19, 2011, Gaines won election to District 57 of the Louisiana House of Representatives. He faced Democrats Olangee Breech, Albert Burl III, Shane Bailey and Independent Russ Wise in the primary election on October 22, 2011. Because Louisiana uses a blanket primary system, a candidate can be declared the overall winner of the seat by garnering 50 percent +1 of the vote in the primary. However, since no candidate reached this threshold, a general election took place on November 19, 2011 between Wise and Gaines.[5] Gaines defeated Wise to win the seat.[6]
| Louisiana House of Representatives District 57 General Election, 2011 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic |  Randal Gaines |
69% | 5,677 | |
| Independent | Russ Wise | 31% | 2,548 | |
| Total Votes | 8,225 | |||
| Louisiana House of Representatives, District 57 Blanket Primary, 2011 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Randal Gaines |
41.8% | 5,463 | |
| Independent | Russ Wise |
28.8% | 3,768 | |
| Democratic | Albert Burl III | 12.6% | 1,644 | |
| Democratic | Shane Bailey | 12.5% | 1,641 | |
| Democratic | Olangee Breech | 4.3% | 562 | |
| Total Votes | 13,078 | |||
Campaign themes
2019
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Randal Gaines did not complete Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Louisiana scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2023
In 2023, the Louisiana State Legislature was in session from April 10 to June 8.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to social issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to abortion.
2022
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show]. |
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In 2022, the Louisiana State Legislature was in session from March 14 to June 6.
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2021
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show]. |
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In 2021, the Louisiana State Legislature was in session from April 12 to June 10.
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2020
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2020, click [show]. |
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In 2020, the Louisiana State Legislature was in session from March 9 to June 1. The session was suspended from March 31 through May 4. A special session convened from June 1 to June 30 and from September 28 to October 23.
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2019
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2019, click [show]. |
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In 2019, the Louisiana State Legislature was in session from April 8 through June 6.
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2018
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2018, click [show]. |
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In 2018, the Louisiana State Legislature was in session from March 12 through May 18.
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2017
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2017, click [show]. |
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In 2017, the Louisiana State Legislature was in session from April 10 through June 8. The legislature held its first special session from February 13 to February 22. The legislature held its second special session from June 8 to June 16.
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2016
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2016, click [show]. |
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In 2016, the Louisiana State Legislature was in session from March 14 through June 6. A special session was held from February 14 to March 9 to address the state's budget gap. A second special session was held from June 6 to June 23.
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2015
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2015, click [show]. |
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In 2015, the Louisiana State Legislature was in session from April 13 through June 11.
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2014
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2014, click [show]. |
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In 2014, the Louisiana State Legislature was in session from March 10 through June 3.
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2013
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2013, click [show]. |
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In 2013, the Louisiana State Legislature was in session from April 8 to June 6.
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2012
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2012, click [show]. |
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In 2012, the Louisiana State Legislature was in session from March 12 through June 4.
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See also
2019 Elections
External links
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Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Associated Press, "Randal Gaines defeats Katie Bernhardt to become new chair of Louisiana Democratic Party," April 15, 2024
- ↑ Louisiana Secretary of State, "2015 Elections," accessed January 2, 2015
- ↑ Louisiana Secretary of State, "Candidate Inquiry," accessed October 13, 2015
- ↑ Louisiana Secretary of State, "Official Election Results," accessed November 1, 2015
- ↑ Louisiana Secretary of State, "Unofficial Election Results," October 22, 2011
- ↑ Louisiana Secretary of State, "Official election results for November 19, 2011," accessed December 6, 2011
- ↑ Louisiana Family Forum, "2014 Senate Scorecard," accessed July 11, 2017
- ↑ Louisiana Family Forum, "2013 Senate Scorecard," accessed July 11, 2017
- ↑ Louisiana Family Forum, "2012 Senate Scorecard," accessed July 11, 2017
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by - |
Louisiana House of Representatives District 57 2012-2024 |
Succeeded by Sylvia Taylor (D) |
| Preceded by - |
Democratic Party of Louisiana Chair -Present |
Succeeded by - |
