Louisiana State Senate elections, 2015
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Elections for the Louisiana State Senate 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.[1]
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.
The Louisiana State Senate was one of seven state legislative chambers throughout the country holding elections in November 2015. However, only four races were decided by a November general election; all other seats were won in the primary by virtue of a majority of the vote.
Incumbents retiring
Eleven incumbents, most of them term-limited, did not run for re-election. They were:
| Name | Party | Current Office |
|---|---|---|
| A.G. Crowe |  Republican |
Senate District 1 |
| Edwin Murray |  Democratic |
Senate District 4 |
| David Heitmeier | Democratic |
Senate District 7 |
| Ben Nevers | Democratic |
Senate District 12 |
| Sharon Weston Broome | Democratic |
Senate District 15 |
| Jody Amedee | Republican |
Senate District 18 |
| Elbert Guillory | Republican |
Senate District 24 |
| Richard Gallot, Jr. | Democratic |
Senate District 29 |
| Robert Kostelka | Republican |
Senate District 35 |
| Robert Adley | Republican |
Senate District 36 |
| Sherri Smith Buffington | Republican |
Senate District 38 |
Majority control
- See also: Partisan composition of state senates
Heading into the November 21 election, the Republican Party held the majority in the Louisiana State Senate:
| Louisiana State Senate | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | As of November 21, 2015 | After November 21, 2015 | |
| Democratic Party | 13 | 14 | |
| Republican Party | 26 | 25 | |
| Total | 39 | 39 | |
Impact of term limits
- See also State legislatures with term limits
Of the 15 states with term limits, Louisiana is the only instance where the restrictions were imposed by the state's legislators, rather than through the ballot initiative process. Under Louisiana's term limits, anyone who has served more than two and one-half terms in three consecutive terms may not be elected to the succeeding term in the same house.[2]
There are 39 seats in the Louisiana State Senate. In 2015, seven legislators, or 18 percent of the total seats, were ineligible to run for the State Senate again. Of them, three were Democrats and four were Republicans.
In addition to the seven state senators who left office because of term limits, 15 state representatives were also termed-out.
The seven current members of the State Senate who were ineligible to run in 2015 were:
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Qualifications
In order to run for office, the following qualifications are in place:[3]
- Must be 18 years of age or older.
- Must be a resident of the district they seek to hold office to for a minimum of two years.
- Must not have served more than two and one half terms previously in office. This is for any candidate who has held office in the past after January 8, 1996.
- Have not been convicted of a felony offense.
- Have no outstanding fines with the Louisiana Ethics Administration Program.
- Pay a $225 filing fee with the Clerk of Court in the parish they reside in or collect 400 signatures.
- If running as a Republican or Democrat, pay an additional $112.50 filing fee with the state and/or parish executive committee of their party.
Competitiveness
Candidates unopposed by a major party
In 32 of the 39 districts up for election in 2015, only one major party had candidates running for election. A total of 11 Democrats and 21 Republicans were guaranteed election barring unforeseen circumstances.
At least two major party candidates faced off in seven of the 39 districts up for election.
Primary challenges
A total of six incumbents faced primary competition from a member of the same party on October 24; all won re-election in the primary. Eleven incumbents did not seek re-election in 2015 and another 22 incumbents advanced past the primary without same-party opposition, effectively winning election for them due to Louisiana's primary system.
Retiring incumbents
Eleven incumbent senators did not run for re-election, while 28 (71.8%) ran for re-election. A list of those incumbents, five Democrats and six Republicans, can be found above.
Historical context
Uncontested elections: In 2014, 32.8 percent of Americans lived in states with an uncontested state senate election. Similarly, 40.4 percent of Americans lived in states with uncontested house elections. Primary elections were uncontested even more frequently, with 61 percent of people living in states with no contested primaries. Uncontested elections often occur in locations that are so politically one-sided that the result of an election would be a foregone conclusion regardless of whether it was contested or not.
Open seats: In most cases, an incumbent will run for re-election, which decreases the number of open seats available. In 2014, 83 percent of the 6,057 seats up for election saw the incumbent running for re-election. The states that impose term limits on their legislatures typically see a higher percentage of open seats in a given year because a portion of incumbents in each election are forced to leave office. Overall, the number of open seats decreased from 2012 to 2014, dropping from 21.2 percent in 2012 to 17.0 percent in 2014.
Incumbent win rates: Ballotpedia's competitiveness analysis of elections between 1972 and 2014 documented the high propensity for incumbents to win re-election in state legislative elections. In fact, since 1972, the win rate for incumbents had not dropped below 90 percent—with the exception of 1974, when 88 percent of incumbents were re-elected to their seats. Perhaps most importantly, the win rate for incumbents generally increased over time. In 2014, 96.5 percent of incumbents were able to retain their seats. Common convention holds that incumbents are able to leverage their office to maintain their seat. However, the high incumbent win rate may actually be a result of incumbents being more likely to hold seats in districts that are considered safe for their party.
Marginal primaries: Often, competitiveness is measured by examining the rate of elections that have been won by amounts that are considered marginal (5 percent or less). During the 2014 election, 90.1 percent of primary and general election races were won by margins higher than 5 percent. Interestingly, it is usually the case that only one of the two races—primary or general—will be competitive at a time. This means that if a district's general election is competitive, typically one or more of the district's primaries were won by more than 5 percent. The reverse is also true: If a district sees a competitive primary, it is unlikely that the general election for that district will be won by less than 5 percent. Primaries often see very low voter turnout in comparison to general elections. In 2014, there were only 27 million voters for state legislative primaries, but approximately 107 million voters for the state legislative general elections.
List of candidates
District 1
Note: Incumbent A.G. Crowe (R) did not seek re-election.
- October 24 primary:
- ☑
Sharon Hewitt: 15,537 - ☐ Pete Schneider: 10,810
District 2
- October 24 primary:
- ☑
Troy Brown: 23,829 - Incumbent Brown was first elected to the chamber in 2011. - ☐ Chris Delpit: 4,072
- ☐
Eric Weil: 5,208
District 3
- October 24 primary:
- ☑ J.P. Morrell - Incumbent Morrell was first elected to the chamber in 2008.
District 4
Note: Incumbent Edwin Murray (D) did not run for re-election due to term limits.
- October 24 primary:
- ☑ Wesley Bishop: 16,336
- ☐ R. Erich Caulfield: 6,195
- ☐ Joe Swider: 2,665
District 5
- October 24 primary:
- ☑ Karen Peterson - Incumbent Peterson was first elected to the chamber in 2010.
District 6
- October 24 primary:
- ☑ Mack White Jr. - Incumbent White was first elected to the chamber in 2011.
District 7
Note: Incumbent David Heitmeier (D) did not run for re-election.
- October 24 primary:
- ☐ Leslie Ellison: 3,097
- ☑ Troy Carter: 7,700
- ☑ Jeff Arnold: 6,858
- ☐ Roy Glapion: 2,957
Note: Troy Gainey (R) did not appear on the primary ballot.
- November 21 general election:
- Troy Carter: 12,935
- Jeff Arnold: 9,852
District 8
- October 24 primary:
- ☑ John Alario - Incumbent Alario was first elected to the chamber in 2007.
District 9
- October 24 primary:
- ☑ Conrad Appel: 14,701 - Incumbent Appel was first elected to the chamber in 2007.
- ☐ John LaBruzzo: 11,109
Note: Polly Thomas (R) and Scott Songy (I) withdrew before the primary.
District 10
- October 24 primary:
- ☑ Daniel Martiny - Incumbent Martiny was first elected to the chamber in 2007.
District 11
- October 24 primary:
- ☑ Jack Donahue - Incumbent Donahue was first elected to the chamber in 2007.
District 12
Note: Incumbent Ben Nevers (D) did not run for re-election due to term limits.
- October 24 primary:
- ☑ Mickey Murphy: 10,767
- ☐ Brett Duncan: 6,827
- ☑ Beth Mizell: 14,344
- ☐ John Seal: 1,138
- November 21 general election:
- Mickey Murphy: 14,033
- Beth Mizell: 19,404
District 13
- October 24 primary:
- ☑ Dale Erdey: 17,117 - Incumbent Erdey was first elected to the chamber in 2007.
- ☐ Derek Babcock: 9,655
District 14
- October 24 primary:
- ☑ Yvonne Dorsey-Colomb - Incumbent Dorsey-Colomb was first elected to the chamber in 2007.
District 15
Note: Incumbent Sharon Weston Broome (D) did not run for re-election due to term limits.
- October 24 primary:
- ☑ Regina Barrow: 14,101
- ☐ Dalton Honore: 8,796
- ☐ Jerrie Williams: 3,683
District 16
- October 24 primary:
- ☐ Scott McKnight: 11,462
- ☑ Dan Claitor: 16,506 - Incumbent Claitor was first elected to the chamber in 2009.
- ☐ Brent Campanella: 4,564
District 17
- October 24 primary:
- ☑ Rick Ward III - Incumbent Ward was first elected to the chamber in 2011.
District 18
Note: Incumbent Jody Amedee (R) did not run for re-election due to term limits.
- October 24 primary:
- ☑ Eddie Lambert
District 19
- October 24 primary:
- ☑ Gary Smith Jr. - Incumbent Smith was first elected to the chamber in 2011.
District 20
- October 24 primary:
- ☐ Mike Fesi: 9,944
- ☑ Norby Chabert: 11,921 - Incumbent Chabert was first elected to the chamber in 2009.
- ☐ Mark Atzenhoffer: 1,456
District 21
- October 24 primary:
- ☑ R.L. Allain II - Incumbent Allain was first elected to the chamber in 2011.
District 22
- October 24 primary:
- ☑ Fred Mills, Jr. - Incumbent Mills was first elected to the chamber in 2011.
District 23
- October 24 primary:
- ☑ Patrick Cortez: 27,231 - Incumbent Cortez was first elected to the chamber in 2011.
- ☐ Terry Hughes: 5,235
District 24
Note: Incumbent Elbert Guillory (R) did not run for re-election.
- October 24 primary:
- ☑ Gerald Boudreaux: 17,846
- ☐ Ledricka Johnson Thierry: 11,528
District 25
- October 24 primary:
- ☑ Dan Morrish - Incumbent Morrish was first elected to the chamber in 2007.
District 26
- October 24 primary:
- ☑ Jonathan Perry - Incumbent Perry was first elected to the chamber in 2011.
District 27
- October 24 primary:
- ☐ Ginger Vidrine: 7,901
- ☑ Ronnie Johns: 14,648 - Incumbent Johns was first elected to the chamber in 2011.
District 28
- October 24 primary:
- ☑ Eric LaFleur - Incumbent LaFleur was first elected to the chamber in 2007.
District 29
Note: Incumbent Richard Gallot, Jr. (D) did not run for re-election.
- October 24 primary:
- ☑ Jay Luneau: 13,462
- ☐ Joshua Dara: 9,225
District 30
- October 24 primary:
- ☑ John R. Smith - Incumbent Smith was first elected to the chamber in 2007.
District 31
- October 24 primary:
- ☑ Gerald Long - Incumbent Long was first elected to the chamber in 2007.
District 32
- October 24 primary:
- ☑ Neil Riser - Incumbent Riser was first elected to the chamber in 2007.
District 33
- October 24 primary:
- ☑ Mike Walsworth: 15,891 - Incumbent Walsworth was first elected to the chamber in 2007.
- ☐ Vance McAllister: 9,626
District 34
- October 24 primary:
- ☑ Francis C. Thompson - Incumbent Thompson was first elected to the chamber in 2007.
District 35
Note: Incumbent Robert Kostelka (R) did not run for re-election due to term limits.
- October 24 primary:
- ☐ Stewart Cathey: 11,956
- ☑ James Fannin: 13,430
District 36
Note: Incumbent Robert Adley (R) did not run for re-election due to term limits.
- October 24 primary:
- ☐ Todd Hollenshead: 6,465
- ☑ Henry Burns: 10,202
- ☑ Ryan Gatti: 8,649
- November 21 general election:
- Henry Burns: 13,698
- Ryan Gatti: 14,023
District 37
- October 24 primary:
- ☑ Barrow Peacock - Incumbent Peacock was first elected to the chamber in 2011.
District 38
Note: Incumbent Sherri Smith Buffington (R) did not run for re-election.
- October 24 primary:
- ☑ John Milkovich: 9,061
- ☐ Jemayel Warren: 2,693
- ☑ Richard Burford: 9,566
- ☐ Cloyce Clark: 5,885
- November 21 general election:
- John Milkovich: 15,665
- Richard Burford: 14,206
District 39
- October 24 primary:
- ☑ Gregory Tarver - Incumbent Tarver was first elected to the chamber in 2011.
Note: Jim Slagle withdrew before the primary.
See also
External links
- Louisiana Secretary of State - Official election results
- Louisiana Secretary of State - Official general election results
Footnotes
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