United States Senate runoff election in Louisiana, 2014/Barack Obama

2014 U.S. Senate runoff election in Louisiana

Runoff General Election Date December 6, 2014

Primary Date November 4, 2014

December 6 Runoff Election Winner: Bill Cassidy

Incumbent prior to election: Mary Landrieu

Republican candidate: Bill Cassidy

Race Ratings Cook Political Report: Lean R Sabato's Crystal Ball: Likely R

Issues in this election: •Keystone Pipeline • Healthcare  • Connections to Pres. Obama • Social Security • Media  • Voting analysis and trends

During the 2014 midterm elections, Republicans aimed to tie their opponents to President Barack Obama. Rep. Bill Cassidy continued to do so on the campaign trail before the December 6 runoff election. Cassidy, who was vocal in his opposition to Obama, frequently repeated that his opponent, Sen. Mary Landrieu, voted with Obama 97 percent of the time, and it proved to be effective. According to an exit poll conducted by Edison Research, "Nearly six in 10 of Louisiana's voters said Landrieu votes with Obama too often." Landrieu, who ranked 44th in the liberal rankings in 2013, stood by her vote with Obama on the Affordable Care Act, but she criticized him for not supporting the Keystone XL Pipeline.

Race background

In an interview with the Brookings Institution, Michael Henderson, an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Mississippi, explained, "At its core, the Louisiana Senate race is not about policy but about a person – President Obama. Most voters in the state say their opinion of the president will be an important factor in how they decide. The issues cropping up in the campaign – health care, energy, immigration, even the prices and locations of the candidates’ homes – are more about tying Senator Landrieu to the president or distancing her from him than they are about policy specifics."

Landrieu walked a fine line during the election of distancing herself from and standing with Obama. In what some Democrats saw as an act of defiance, Landrieu brought a vote on the pipeline to the Senate floor, although the bill ultimately failed. On issues such as healthcare, however, Landrieu stood by the president. She said, "I am not backing up from the things that I have supported President Obama on."

With "Forty-nine percent of Louisiana's voters strongly disapprov[ing] of the way President Barak Obama is doing his job, and another 10 percent somewhat disapprov[ing]," Landrieu's support of Obama may have been one of the reasons voters decided to replace her with Cassidy.

Oct. 14 Debate

The performance of Obama and his administration was a main topic of discussion throughout an October 14 debate. Cassidy was the most vocal critic of the Obama administration stating that he highly disapproved of how national security issues were handled. Cassidy said, "I don't trust this president. I think he is a very poor commander in chief." Near the end of the debate, all three candidates were asked to rate Obama's job performance, with 10 being the highest. Landrieu gave Obama a 6-7, while Cassidy gave Obama a rating of 0.

Cassidy said, "She represents Barack Obama. I represent you. Do you want Sen. Landrieu to complete Barack Obama’s agenda?"

"I keep my eyes on the people of Louisiana, fighting for them every day regardless of who is in power," Landrieu said.

Landrieu's comments on Southern racism

Landrieu blamed Obama's low approval ratings on Southern racism. In an interview with NBC News, Landrieu said, “I'll be very, very honest with you. The South has not always been the friendliest place for African-Americans. It's been a difficult time for the president to present himself in a very positive light as a leader."

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, responded to Landrieu's comments saying, "She appears to be living in a different century. Implied in her comments is the clear suggestion that President Obama and his policies are unpopular in Louisiana because of his ethnicity. That is a major insult by Senator Landrieu to the people of Louisiana and I flatly reject it."

Landrieu also noted that Obama was unpopular in Louisiana because of his moratorium on off-shore drilling. She said, "One of the reasons that the president's so unpopular is because he put the moratorium on off-shore drilling. remember? After Macondo. And our state was furious about that. Now he could have shut down the BP operations but he didn't, he shut down the whole Gulf. When you shut down the whole gulf of Mexico it puts a lot of people here at risk and out of business. That's number one."

Dec. 1 debate

During the Dec. 1 debate, Cassidy criticized Landrieu for her racially charged comments. Cassidy said, “Sen. Landrieu made statement that somehow Barack Obama wasn’t being viewed favorably because we have a history of racism in the South. I think just because you disagree with the president doesn’t make you a racist. And I will point out that when Landrieu said by implication that we’re racist and sexist, she’s been elected to public office since I was in college, so I think we’ve made progress.”

Landrieu accused Cassidy of taking her words out of context and said, “One of the problems that Bill Cassidy has is he makes things up as he goes along. He’s made up this story about him being a doctor for the poor when he’s padding his own payroll and he’s made up the statement that I’ve said that anyone was a racist. Do you know what I said? I said the South has not always been the friendliest place for African-Americans, and it’s also been a region that’s not quickly recognized the leadership of women. I will make no apology for something that is a historical fact.”

See also

• United States Senate runoff election in Louisiana, 2014
• United States Senate elections in Louisiana, 2014
• United States Senate elections, 2014
• United States Senate
• Louisiana elections, 2014
• United States House of Representatives elections in Louisiana, 2014
• U.S. Senate delegation from Louisiana
• United States congressional delegations from Louisiana
• Mary Landrieu (D)
• Bill Cassidy (R)

External links

• Louisiana Elections Division
• Elections Division: Candidates

Footnotes

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Louisiana's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Bill Cassidy (R)

John Kennedy (R)

Representatives

District 1

Steve Scalise (R)

District 2

Troy Carter (D)

District 3

Clay Higgins (R)

District 4

Mike Johnson (R)

District 5

Julia Letlow (R)

District 6

Cleo Fields (D)

Republican Party (6)

Democratic Party (2)