User:Nomader/1975 Louisiana's 6th congressional district special election

Louisiana's 6th congressional district special election, 1975

January 7, 1975
Louisiana's 6th congressional district
Nominee Henson Moore Jeff LaCaze Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 74,802 63,366 Percentage 54.14% 45.86%

Dates

Primary date: August 17, 1974

Runoff date: September 28, 1974

References

• -- Expanding black participation in the electorate helped to oust segregationist Congressman John Rarick (who had beaten a fellow Congressman in 1966 for supporting the civil rights agenda laid out by Johnson). White conservative Democrats migrated to vote for Moore in November instead.
• Full listing of all of the candidates for Congress in the 1974 general election
• An analysis of all of the Democratic Primary elections in the state for the 1974 general-- notes that all of the campaigning "has been low key" and that the incumbents have found it challenging to make it back to campaign. Only the 6th was expected to have the possibility of going into a runoff, due to the amount of candidates running.
• Notes that Jeff LaCaze was a 29-year old television announcer from Baton Rogue and has the vote counts for the initial primary election. Notes that the winner of the runoff will face "token opposition" from Henson Moore.
• Rep. John Rarick announced the endorsement of all of his Democratic Congressional colleagues five days out from the jungle primary date. Reps. F. Edward Hébert, Otto Passman, Joe Waggonner, and John Breaux all endorsed. Henson Moore attacked John Rarick on the economy, saying, "The 6th district is economically depressed" and said that he would appoint a full-time staffer towards dealing with economic development daily.
• "Rarick, an eight year veteran [of the House of Representatives], does not dispute that dispute comments by some of his colleagues that he perhaps leans further to the right than any other memer [sic] of the House." The article notes that Rarick was an "invisible campaigner" in the initial stage of the primary, which occurred during the Watergate scandal hearings. Rarick blamed his inability to secure the runoff to his supporters' apathy. LaCaze attacked Rarick for his inability to do work, saying, "Of the 731 bills he has introduced in the House, not a single one has passed." LaCaze also publicly alleged that Rarick refused to spend money on causes like social security and drug and alcohol abuse programs, but would be willing to always fully fund the military. Rarick shot back that LaCaze was a pawn of organized labor, also accused him of being a carpetbagger, saying, "LaCaze has been in Louisiana four years and had to ge a road map to ge around the district.  They put him on TV four years ago to get an image. They sold him to you. They got strings on him now, big labor up in Washington." Mentions that LaCaze was a native of Kansas who came four years ago to be a broadcaster. Notes that Rarick's strength comes from being in one of the most conservative districts in Louisiana.
• Repeat vote article. A voting machine failed to register an undetermined amount of votes, and it was ordered that the election take place again.