Special Election Scheduled for Louisiana House District

The U.S. House seat in Louisiana’s 1st District, soon to be vacated by Republican Governor-elect Bobby Jindal , will be filled in a special election process that will begin with party primaries on March 8 and end with a general election that almost certainly will be held on May 3. The election is unlikely to produce any shift in the partisan balance of power in the House, as the heavily Republican district is strongly favored to stay in that party’s hands.

Retiring Democratic Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco — whom two-term House incumbent Jindal will succeed after winning Louisiana’s off-year election for governor on Oct. 20 — issued a proclamation Tuesday that set the election schedule, which also includes an April 5 primary runoff date if no one wins a majority vote in one or both parties in the March 8 first-round vote.

The proclamation includes a proviso that the general election would be held April 5 instead of May 3 if no runoffs are necessary. But a runoff is almost sure to be needed on the Republican side, given the long list of candidates who are expected to pursue that party’s nomination.

The candidate qualifying period for the contest runs from January 29 to 31.

Jindal previously stated that he will resign his House seat Jan. 14, the same day he will be inaugurated as governor. His easy victory this year over a field that included 11 other candidates of all party affiliations entitles him to assume the office that he narrowly lost to Blanco in the 2003 state election.

Texans Support Bobby Jindal

Jindal, 36, won his bid, a historic victory that will make him the country's first Indian-American chief executive when he is sworn in next year.

He got there with the help of many Texans, who contributed nearly $400,000 to his campaign in the past year and more than $800,000 since 2003, Louisiana Board of Ethics records show.

Additionally, Jindal is putting people with Texas connections into his administration: His deputy chief of staff for policy will be Stephen Waguespack, a Washington lobbyist and former legislative aide to U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Arlington.

No matter what his donors' motivations are, Jindal's leadership could have an impact on Texas -- perhaps luring back Louisianans who moved to Texas after Katrina, or perhaps just creating an easier working relationship on the local and national levels.

Bobby Jindal Pledges to End Corruption in Louisiana

Bobby Jindal pledged to end corruption in Louisiana after winning the governor's race Oct. 20 and becoming the first Indian-American chosen to lead a U.S. state.

Jindal, 36, won the election outright in the primary after gaining 54 percent of the votes, according to results tallied by the Louisiana Secretary of State's office. Four years ago, Jindal won the primary without enough votes to avoid a runoff and lost the general election to Democratic Governor Kathleen Blanco, who declined to run again in the wake of criticism of her handling of the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

``Our state has been depicted as a haven for incompetence and corruption. We have some of that, just like every state does,'' Jindal said in a victory speech posted on the New Orleans Times Picayune's Web site. ``Those days are now officially over. We are serving notice. Louisiana is very soon going to be on the rise.''

Jindal, a Bush administration supporter in Congress, was the only Republican running for governor in a state where Democrats make up about half the registered voters and outnumber Republicans two-to-one. Since Katrina and Rita in 2005, tens of thousands of New Orleans residents who historically voted Democratic have been dislocated.

The Secretary of State's office reports 56,995 fewer Democratic voters now than when the hurricane hit, and 11,355 fewer black Democrats. Those numbers understate reality because at least two years must elapse before the state purges former residents from voter rolls, office spokesman Jacques Berry said.

Louisiana favors Jindal in first Post-Katrina Governnor's Race

According to Bloomberg News, Republican Congressman Bobby Jindal, a Rhodes Scholar who became Louisiana's health secretary at 24, is the frontrunner to win the governor's race and become the first Indian-American to lead a U.S. state.

Jindal needs a majority of the vote in an Oct. 20 open primary to avoid a runoff four weeks later. Polls have him capturing almost 50 percent of the vote, while his three closest competitors are each struggling for 10 percent.

The election for governor is the first since hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in 2005. Governor Kathleen Blanco, a Democrat, isn't seeking re- election after facing criticism for how she dealt with the storms. A win by Jindal, who lost to Blanco in 2003, would put a Bush administration ally in charge of the second-poorest state.