Democrat wins special election in LA-06
Democrat Don Cazayoux won the special election in Louisiana’s sixth Congressional district that we wrote about earlier today.
This is extremely bad news for Congressional Republicans. They threw everything but the kitchen sink at Cazayoux, including ads from Freedom Watch (which may have been illegally coordinated with the NRCC) and still lost. What that means locally is hard to say, but it may mean that the Republicans give up on NY-25 to adopt a more defensive posture.
Update: The Politico has more, including this statement from DCCC head Chris Van Hollen:
“For the second time this cycle, Republicans were reminded that ‘all politics is local,’” said Van Hollen. “House Republicans tried to nationalize this election, illegally coordinated with Freedom’s Watch, used false and deceptive special interest smears, and funneled nearly a million dollars into a district that Republicans held for more than three decades. Don won by focusing on the concerns of LA-06 voters – good paying jobs, affordable health care, and better education.”
While this is more or less boiler plate, it is worth remembering that progressives need to make this (and all elections) referendums on real issues, rather than the shouting matches about flag pins that pundits and D&C ed board members love so much.
but feel free to...
By the way, he was a pro-life Democrat, promoted by Democrats for Life.
Progress.
This is not progress. This is a sad commentary on Lousiana and what you have to do to get elected as a Democrat.
[...] As we told you earlier, Democrats won a special election in a heavily Republican district in Louisiana over the weekend. We’ve offered own thoughts on the impact this may have in NY-25 (I tend to believe it may mean that Republicans essentially give up on NY-25), now Rottenchester has some musings about what it means for NY-29: … if I were the Kuhl campaign, I’d be wondering about running the NRCC playbook this fall. Saying a Democrat will raise taxes, that he’ll allow a horde of immigrants to cross the border, and trying to link him to supposedly toxic figures like Pelosi and Obama didn’t work in two recent elections. And Republican voters are electing Democrats who say they’ll end the war in Iraq and do something about healthcare. When you’re on the wrong side of too many issues, the usual distractions won’t work. Perhaps its time for Republicans to start talking about their positive agenda, if they have one. [...]