2014 United States Senate election in Louisiana

The 2014 United States Senate election in Louisiana was held on November 4, 2014, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Louisiana.

Incumbent senator Mary Landrieu ran for re-election to a fourth term in office against U.S. Representative Bill Cassidy and several other candidates.

Under Louisiana's jungle primary system, all candidates appear on the same ballot, regardless of party and voters may vote for any candidate, regardless of their party affiliation. Louisiana is the only state that has a jungle primary system (California and Washington have a similar "top two primary" system). Since no candidate received a majority of the vote in the primary election, a runoff election was held on December 6, 2014 between the top two candidates, Landrieu and Cassidy.

In the December 6 runoff, Cassidy defeated Landrieu by 11.86 percentage points (55.93% to 44.07%), settling the fate of the final Senate seat of the 2014 midterms, becoming the first Republican to hold this seat since 1883, and giving Senate Republicans 54 seats in the 114th Congress. This marked the first time since the resignation of William Pitt Kellogg in 1872 that both of Louisiana's Senate seats were held by Republicans, and rendered Cedric Richmond as Louisiana’s only congressional Democrat.

Background
Elections in Louisiana, with the exception of U.S. presidential elections, follow a variation of the open primary system called the jungle primary. Candidates of any and all parties are listed on one ballot; voters need not limit themselves to the candidates of one party. Unless one candidate takes more than 50% of the vote in the first round, a run-off election is then held between the top two candidates, who may in fact be members of the same party. This scenario occurred in the 7th District congressional race in 1996, when Democrats Chris John and Hunter Lundy made the runoff for the open seat, and in 1999, when Republicans Suzanne Haik Terrell and Woody Jenkins made the runoff for Commissioner of Elections.

Declared

 * Wayne Ables
 * Mary Landrieu, incumbent U.S. Senator
 * Vallian Senegal
 * William Waymire, retired Marine

Withdrew

 * Raymond Brown, minister, civil rights activist and candidate for the U.S. Senate in 1998 and 2002 (endorsed Landrieu)

Declined

 * Edwin Edwards, former Governor of Louisiana and former U.S. Representative (running for LA-06)

Declared

 * Bill Cassidy, U.S. Representative
 * Thomas Clements, small business owner
 * Rob Maness, retired U.S. Air Force Colonel

Withdrew

 * Paul Hollis, state representative

Declined

 * Scott Angelle, member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission and former Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana
 * Charles Boustany, U.S. Representative
 * Jay Dardenne, Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana
 * John Fleming, U.S. Representative
 * Elbert Guillory, state senator
 * Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana
 * Jeff Landry, former U.S. Representative
 * Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, former state representative and candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2002
 * Phil Robertson, reality television star
 * Buddy Roemer, former governor of Louisiana, former U.S. Representative and candidate for President of the United States in 2012
 * Chas Roemer, president of the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and son of former governor Buddy Roemer
 * Steve Scalise, U.S. Representative
 * Alan Seabaugh, state representative

Declared

 * Brannon McMorris, electrical engineer

Debates

 * Complete video of debate, October 14, 2014
 * Complete video of debate, October 29, 2014

Polling

 * Jungle primary


 * ^ Internal poll for John Fleming Campaign


 * Republican primary

Debates

 * Complete video of debate, December 1, 2014

Parishes that flipped from Democratic to Republican

 * Allen (Largest city: Oakdale)
 * Avoyelles (Largest city: Marksville)
 * Calcasieu (Largest city: Lake Charles)
 * Cameron (Largest community: Grand Lake)
 * Claiborne (Largest town: Homer)
 * Concordia (Largest city: Vidalia)
 * DeSoto (Largest city: Mansfield)
 * East Feliciana (Largest town: Jackson)
 * Evangeline (Largest city: Ville Platte)
 * Iberia (Largest city: New Iberia)
 * Jefferson Davis (Largest city: Jennings)
 * Lafourche (Largest city: Thibodaux)
 * Morehouse (Largest city: Bastrop)
 * Natchitoches (Largest city: Natchitoches)
 * Plaquemines (Largest community: Belle Chasse)
 * Red River (Largest town: Coushatta)
 * Saint Martin (Largest city: Breaux Bridge)
 * Saint Mary (Largest city: Morgan City)
 * Washington (Largest city: Bogalusa)
 * Webster (Largest city: Minden)
 * West Feliciana (Largest town: St. Francisville)
 * West Baton Rouge (Largest city: Port Allen)

By congressional district
Cassidy won 5 of the 6 congressional districts in Louisiana.