Qualifying for the fall federal midterm elections ended last week with no Democrat candidate in two congressional district races. Why? LSU political science professor Robert Hogan says District 4’s Mike Johnson was just re-elected, having drawn NO opponent; democrat or otherwise. In District 6, Garret Graves has two challengers; a republican and a libertarian. Hogan says those are both VERY conservative districts.
“A Democrat is very unlikely to run in a district that is heavily republican, because they recognize that their chances are very low,” Hogan says.
Hogan feels Louisiana has gerrymandered the districts to assure GOP dominance in all but one; the state’s mandated majority-minority District 2. However, he says the Representatives in D4 and D6 have worked very hard for the folks back home.
“It also says something too about the members of Congress who represent these districts. Johnson and Graves spend an enormous amount of time attending to constituents’ needs and concerns, to keep constituents satisfied.”
Hogan says very few well-known Louisiana democrats sought to run for Congress. Many are relative unknowns. He says this isn’t good for the Democrats’ future endeavors.
“The bench is not very deep for democrats, and it doesn’t bode well for democrats for statewide office in the 2023 elections.”
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