Election Day is now just 50 days away. Thanks to the last-minute redistricting, the U.S. House races on the November 3rd ballot are all open primaries. ULM Political Science Professor Pearson Cross says even though all candidates from all parties will be on the same ballot, he does not expect many partisan voters to cross party lines.
“In the absence of a really strong, coordinated campaign by candidates or by parties, you’ll see people fall back to these kinds of positions that they have before: ‘Oh, I’m a Republican, I vote Republican; I’m a Democrat, I vote Democrat,'” Cross noted.
The two biggest races are in Districts 5 and 6, which are the two open seats. Cross says while four prominent Republicans are battling it out, there’s only one prominent Democrat – Pat Moore – on the ballot.
“Clearly the Democrat, if things go as previously, has the inside track on making a runoff; but as far as the Republicans go, it’s a toss-up right now, who can get their message out,” Cross said.
The District 6 race also has a crowded field, with 10 candidates – six Republicans, three Democrats and one Libertarian – on the ballot. Cross says with the change in boundaries that forced Cleo Fields to drop his re-election bid, he would have expected a lot more extensive messaging from the candidates at this point.
“One would expect that candidates would be spending a great deal of time trying to educate voters about what the new 6th District is, what it looks like, who’s eligible to vote, who’s running, and so on,” Cross remarked.
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