The 2010 United States Senate election in Louisiana was held on November 2, 2010.

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

incumbent

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

David Vitter David Bruce Vitter (born May 3, 1961) is an American lobbyist, lawyer, and politician who served as United States Senator for Louisiana from 2005 to 2017. A Republican, Vitter served in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1992 to 1999. ...

won re-election to a second term, becoming the first Republican ever to be re-elected to the United States Senate from

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

Background

* Party primaries: Saturday, August 28, 2010 * Runoffs (if necessary): Saturday, October 2, 2010 * General Election: Tuesday, November 2, 2010 Vitter faced a potentially serious challenge in the Republican primary as well as the general election.

Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Russel L. Honoré Russel L. Honoré ( ; born September 15, 1947) is a retired lieutenant general who served as the 33rd commanding general of the U.S. First Army at Fort Gillem, Georgia. He is best known for serving as commander of Joint Task Force Katrina resp ...

, who is best known for serving as commander of Joint Task Force Katrina responsible for coordinating military relief efforts for

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

-affected areas across the

Gulf Coast The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South, is the coast, coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The list of U.S. states and territories by coastline, coastal states that have a shor ...

, was allegedly mulling over whether or not to challenge Vitter in the Republican Primary. Tony Perkins, a former Louisiana state representative and current president of the socially conservative

Family Research Council The Family Research Council (FRC) is an American evangelical activist group and think-tank with an affiliated lobbying organization. FRC promotes what it considers to be family values. It opposes and lobbies against: access to pornography, emb ...

, acknowledged interest in running against Vitter because of the prostitution scandal. Nonetheless, Perkins decided not to run and endorsed Vitter for reelection. Some speculated that Vitter's reelection might have become complicated, by the prostitution scandal revealed in 2007, but he continued to lead in aggregate polling against potential opponents. Following a movement to draft him into the race,

John Cooksey John Charles Cooksey (August 20, 1941 – June 4, 2022) was an American ophthalmologist and politician who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives for Louisiana's 5th congressional district from 1997 to 2003 ...

, a former

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

, appeared poised to put together a challenge, planning on spending $200,000 of his own money. Cooksey, however, pulled back and did not qualify. A campaign to draft

porn actress A pornographic film actor or actress, pornographic performer, adult entertainer, or porn star is a person who performs sex acts in video that is usually characterized as a pornographic movie. Such videos tend to be made in a number of dis ...

Stormy Daniels Stephanie Gregory Clifford (born March 17, 1979), known professionally as Stormy Daniels, is an American pornographic film actress and director, and former stripper. She has won numerous industry awards, and is a member of the NightMoves, AVN ...

began in early 2009. She considered whether to run but ultimately declined to qualify. On June 14, 2009, Congressman

Charlie Melançon Charles Joseph Melançon (; born October 3, 1947) is an American politician and the former secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. From 2005 to 2011, he was the U.S. representative for . He earlier served as a state repre ...

announced his intentions to run for Senate in 2010. Melançon, who was representing Louisiana's 3rd Congressional District since 2005, released the announcement to his supporters, saying that "Louisiana needs a different approach, more bi-partisan, more disciplined, more honest and with a whole lot more common sense." Melançon was a leader of the

Blue Dog Coalition The Blue Dog Coalition (commonly known as the Blue Dogs or Blue Dog Democrats) is a caucus in the United States House of Representatives comprising centrist members from the Democratic Party. The caucus was founded as a group of conservative De ...

, a group of

fiscally conservative Fiscal conservatism is a political and economic philosophy regarding fiscal policy and fiscal responsibility with an ideological basis in capitalism, individualism, limited government, and ''laissez-faire'' economics.M. O. Dickerson et al., '' ...

Democrats who aim to lower the deficit and reform the budget. In the weeks before the election a major concern for Vitter's camp was possibly voter apathy about the race. For example,

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

Rolfe H. McCollister Jr., in his ''Greater Baton Rouge Business Report'', endorsed fellow Republican

Jay Dardenne John Leigh "Jay" Dardenne, Jr. (born February 6, 1954) is an American lawyer and politician from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who is serving as commissioner of administration for Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards. A Republican, Dardenne served as ...

over Democrat Caroline Fayard in the simultaneous race for

Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana The lieutenant governor of Louisiana (french: Lieutenant-Gouverneur de la Louisiane) is the second highest state office in Louisiana. The current lieutenant governor is Billy Nungesser, a Republican Party (United States), Republican. The lieuten ...

, but then explicitly made "no endorsement" for U.S. Senate: :I have talked with a number of voters who are just not very excited about this race—the candidates or the tone. I'm not either. You're on your own here.

Democratic primary

Candidates

* Neeson Chauvin * Cary Deaton

Polling

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

, incumbent U.S. Senator * Nick Accardo, doctor *

Chet D. Traylor Chet D. Traylor (born October 12, 1945) is a former Associate Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court, having served in that capacity from 1997 to 2009. Traylor announced his candidacy for the supreme court prior to the January 1996 qualifying pe ...

, former Louisiana Supreme Court justice

Polling

Results

Libertarian primary

Candidates

* Anthony Gentile * Randall Todd Hayes

Results

General election

Candidates

Major

(D), U.S. Congressman *

(R), incumbent U.S. Senator

Minor

* Michael Karlton Brown (I) * Skip Galan (I) * Milton Gordon (I) * Randall Todd Hayes (L) * Tommy LaFargue (I) * Bob Lang (I) * William McShan (Reform) * Sam Houston Melton Jr. (I) * Mike Spears (I) * Ernest Wooton (I)

Campaign

Melançon heavily criticized Vitter for prostitution sex scandal. Vitter released television advertising criticizing Melançon for his support for Obama's stimulus package and his support for

amnesty Amnesty (from the Ancient Greek ἀμνηστία, ''amnestia'', "forgetfulness, passing over") is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power offici ...

for

illegal immigrants Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of the immigration laws of that country or the continued residence without the legal right to live in that country. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upwa ...

Debates

Melançon claimed "In August, Melançon challenged Vitter to a series of five live, televised town hall-style debates across the state. In his 2004 campaign for Senate, Vitter committed to five live, televised debates. Since Melançon issued the challenge, Vitter and Melançon have been invited to a total of seven live, televised debates. Vitter only accepted invitations to debates hosted by WWL-TV and WDSU-TV, both in New Orleans." * September 7: Sponsored by the Alliance for Good Government at Loyola University. * October 27: Sponsored by League of Women Voters-New Orleans, National Council of Jewish Women-New Orleans Junior League-New Orleans, and the American Association of University Women-Louisiana. Televised on

WDSU-TV WDSU (channel 6) is a television station in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Hearst Television. The station's studios are located on Howard Avenue in the city's Central Business District, and its transmitt ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

. * October 28:

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...

sponsored the debate. It was televised on

WWL-TV WWL-TV (channel 4) is a television station in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Slidell-licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate WUPL (channel 54). Both stations share studios on Rampart St ...

and

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

Predictions

Polling

Fundraising

Results

References

External links

Louisiana Secretary of State - Elections

U.S. Congress candidates for Louisiana
at

Project Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in si ...

Louisiana U.S. Senate 2010
from OurCampaigns.com
Campaign contributions
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2010 Louisiana Senate General Election: All Head-to-Head Matchups
graph of multiple polls from ''Pollster.com''
Election 2010: Louisiana Senate
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Rasmussen Reports Rasmussen Reports is an American polling company founded in 2003. The company engages in political commentary and the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information. Rasmussen Reports conducts nightly tracking, ...

2010 Louisiana Senate Race
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Real Clear Politics RealClearPolitics (RCP) is an American political news website and polling data aggregator formed in 2000 by former options trader John McIntyre and former advertising agency account executive Tom Bevan. The site features selected political new ...

2010 Louisiana Senate Race
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CQ Politics Congressional Quarterly, Inc., or CQ, is part of a privately owned publishing company called CQ Roll Call that produces a number of publications reporting primarily on the United States Congress. CQ was acquired by the Economist Group and combine ...

Race profile
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The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

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2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

2010 Louisiana elections