Victory in Louisiana Special Congressional Election Guaranteed to Go to Democrat
The two candidates in Lousiana’s Second Congressional District special runoff election Saturday are both Democrats, guaranteeing the Democratic Party will gain another seat in Congress.
State Sens. Karen Carter Peterson and Troy Carter reached the runoff after neither candidate received 50 percent of the vote in March’s special election, Fox News reported.
The state senators are running to replace Democratic Rep. Cedric Richmond, who left office to join the Biden administration as a senior adviser and director of the Office of Public Engagement.
The special election will give Democrats one more vote in the House of Representatives, where they hold their most fragile majority since the 1940s.
With a 218-212 majority with five vacant seats, House Democrats can lose two votes and still pass legislation.
Louisiana voters will choose between Carter, a more moderate candidate aligned with President Joe Biden’s White House, and Carter Peterson, who would be the first black woman to represent the state, according to CNN.
Carter Peterson currently serves as the state’s Democratic Party chair and is the more progressive of the two candidates.
Democratic lawmakers Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York have both endorsed her candidacy, Fox reported.
“[Ocasio-Cortez] knows that it’s not enough to keep electing Democrats who will nibble at the edges of change,” Carter Peterson tweeted Wednesday.
I’m so grateful to have @AOC‘s endorsement, a fighter for working people who inspires me daily.
She knows that it’s not enough to keep electing Democrats who will nibble at the edges of change.
This is our time for the bold action we need for #LA02. pic.twitter.com/hjkDzlCxh8
— KarenCarterPeterson (@TeamKCP) April 21, 2021
Ocasio-Cortez added that Carter Peterson “would make a fantastic colleague in Congress.”
“I have no doubt that she’ll be a partner in the work to make our country work for all of us, not just the wealthy and well-connected,” she said in a statement.
Carter will need support from Republican voters to win the runoff, but he is also appealing to more progressive voters.
“Yesterday, for the first time in the history of Louisiana, I passed out of committee a $15 pr hr minimum wage tied to the consumer price index,” he tweeted Thursday.
“I’m proud to have cleared this 1st step in the process of ensuring a LIVING WAGE for all of the hard working men & women of Louisiana.”
Yesterday, for the first time in the history of Louisiana, I passed out of committee a $15 pr hr minimum wage tied to the consumer price index. I’m proud to have cleared this 1st step in the process of ensuring a LIVING WAGE for all of the hard working men & women of Louisiana… pic.twitter.com/jqSBF4fuTl
— Senator Troy Carter (@troyc4Congress) April 23, 2021
CNN reported that Carter and Carter Peterson were the top two finishers in a 15-candidate March primary, receiving 36 percent and 23 percent of the vote, respectively.
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