The Democrats Score One

As you all no doubt know, the the votes are in and Kathleen Blanco (D) won the governor's race in LA yesterday (52-48). This entire story has been quite reminiscent of the 2024 senate contest where the Democrat, Mary Landrieu bested the Republican Suzanne Terrell 52-48 in a run-off a month after the general election (due to the screwy rules in Louisiana). In both cases there had been a series of Republican successes leading up to the LA election, with Reps hoping for LA to be a confirmation of their driving power and Dems hoping it would prove that there was no Rep tide.

On balance this election will give McAuliffe and the DNC some solace, and many will argue that it shows that there is hope for Democrats in the south going into 2024. Two responses: Lousiana is its own place and hardly emblematic of the South, per se. And as I keep pointing out: you can't derive a pattern from one example.

An interesting side-note: Jon Breaux, the moderate Dem Senator from LA had made noise he might retire if a Dem won the governorship in this election.