On November 3, Americans and, specifically, Louisianians will be able to cast their votes for a variety of elections, including elections for Senate and House members.
35 seats in the Senate are up for grabs and in Louisiana, Jamie Davis (D) and Julia Letlow (R) will compete for Bill Cassidy’s (R) seat. If you walk around Uptown, you are likely to see lots of signs supporting Jamie Davis, however, The Cook Political Report assessed Louisiana’s Senate race as being “Solid Republican.” In fact, Louisiana has not had a Democrat senator since Mary Landrieu lost her reelection bid in 2014. Unfortunately, the apparent support for a Democrat candidate locally appears to be a result of New Orleans being the largest Democratic stronghold in Republican Louisiana, not a sign that Louisiana will soon elect the first Democratic senator in over 10 years.
Louisiana will also elect six candidates to serve in the House. Louisiana currently has four Republican house seats and two Democratic seats. New Orleans is in Louisiana’s Second Congressional District where Troy Carter (D) currently serves. He is running against Peter Williams (R), Lisa Ballay (L), Walter Beach (Unaffiliated), and Renda Collins (Unaffiliated).
During the midterm general elections in 2022 in Louisiana, the turnout rate of eligible voters was just 42% which is 4% lower than the national average was. That being said, about 54% of eligible voters nationally did not vote in the midterm general elections in 2022 which seems extremely high.
After speaking with some classmates however, I realized that this example of voter disengagement seems common among students at Tulane. Peers have shared that “their vote doesn’t matter” or that they simply forget to order a mail-in ballot or register to vote in Louisiana.
A couple years ago, during the presidential elections, I heard a lot more buzz about voting. It seemed like people felt more confident that their vote could make a difference in such a critical election. However, these elections are critical as well. Both the House and Senate could swing from this election. Democrats only need to pick up an additional four seats in the Senate to have a majority, as they currently have 47 seats (45 Democrats, 2, independents). The Democrats taking the majority of the House and Senate is not an unlikely outcome, especially considering approval rates for President Trump, reported by the NYT, are around 37% showing people are dissatisfied and therefore looking for changes in the way the country is running.
