With the polls closing tonight, Louisiana residents are expecting some interesting results from the Senate race. But Baton Rouge residents, as well as other residents in District Six, are looking forward to their 6^th District Congressional race results.
In April 2013, former LA District 6 U.S. House of Representative member Bill Cassidy announced that he would oppose Mary Landrieu, the incumbent Democrat, for her seat. Ever since then, the race to replace him flared up.
About 12 people from three different parties are running for Cassidy’s seat, including ex-governor and convicted felon, Edwin Edwards. And he may have enough traction with the community to earn himself a seat in the runoff election.
Of the diverse bunch, two candidates in particular that have attracted attention are Edwards and Paul Dietzel. As an ex-convict and an ex-Governor of Louisiana, Edwards has made waves as the eldest candidate. Dietzel, in contrast, is the youngest and a recent graduate of LSU.
Recent polling from Magellan Strategies states that the top contenders are as follows: Edwards leading the race with 31.9 percent followed by Garret Grave with 20.9 percent, Paul Dietzel with 15.1 percent, Dan Claitor with 12.3 percent and Lenar Whitney with 7.4 percent.
If one candidate receives 51 percent of the votes after tonight then they will automatically take Bill Cassidy’s seat. If this does not happen, then the top two candidates who received the most votes will run in a runoff election on December 6, 2014.
Robert Mann, an LSU professor, explains that since Edwards is the most notable candidate from the Democratic Party, he will most likely receive the first runoff spot, leaving the eight Republican candidates to fight for that second spot.
“Whoever gets in the runoff with Edwards will come in second, initially, with maybe around 19, 20, 21 percent of the vote, but that’s all it will probably take to win the congressional seat,” Mann explains.
Mann expounds, stating the 6^th Congressional District has historically been held by a Republican candidate, so the chances of Edwards winning are slim.
Mann states that this election is just a matter of which Republican will win the seat. He also explains that there has been little credible polling, for this election because Democrats and Republicans have put their money towards the Senate election.
The 6^th Congressional District includes Point Coupee, West and East Baton Rouge, Livingston, St. Helena, East Feliciana, St. John, St. Charles, Assumption and Iberville parishes.

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Kira Schuette

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