Louisiana Democratic Party

Louisiana Democratic Party
Chairman	Claude Buddy Leach
Senate Leaders	Joel Chaisson President Sharon Weston Broome President Pro Tempore Rob Marionneaux Parliamentarian
House Leader	John Bel Edwards Caucus Chairman
Headquarters	701 Government Street Baton Rouge, LA 70802
Ideology	American Liberalism Centre-Left
National affiliation	Democratic Party
Official colors	Blue
Seats in the US Senate	1 / 2
Seats in the US House	1 / 7
Seats in the LA Senate	17 / 39
Seats in the LA House	46 / 105
LA statewide offices held	0 / 7
Website
Louisiana Democratic Party

The Louisiana Democratic Party is the local branch of the United States Democratic Party in the state of Louisiana. The party historically has been prominent in politics since before the American Civil War, but consolidated this power after Reconstruction as a result of the rise of the Solid South. Since the official end of reconstruction in 1877 the Democratic party has won 31 of 35 elections for governor.^[1] During this period Democrats won the governorship in every election from 1877 until the election of Republican David Treen in 1980.^[2] Recently, the Democratic Party has seen a steep decline in the number of offices it holds in Louisiana state government and in the United States Congress.

Current Democratic officeholders

The Louisiana Democratic Party holds none of the seven statewide constitutional offices and no majority in either legislative chambers. Democrats also hold one of the state's U.S. Senate seats and one of its seven U.S. House seats.

Members of Congress

U.S. Senate

• Mary Landrieu

U.S. House of Representatives

• Cedric Richmond, 2nd District

Statewide offices

None

Party structure

The party and its members are governed by a set of by-laws, which explain how the party is to operate and the responsibilities officials of the party have.^[3] The Louisiana Democratic Central Committee consists of a female and male committee member from each of the 105 State House Districts.

Party history

Governors of Louisiana

Alexandre Mouton first Democratic Governor of Louisiana.

The Democratic party took hold of it's first governorship in 1843 with the election of Alexandre Mouton. It would continue to win elections throughout the rest of the antebellum period. At the onset of the Civil War the Democratic party won both elections held for the governorship in the portions of Louisiana that were held by the Confederate States of America. During Reconstruction the party's dominance of the governors office was placed on hiatus. As Reconstruction ended in 1877 the Democratic party regained control of state politics and would dominate every election for governor until 1980. This loss effectively ended the dominance the Democratic party held of the Louisiana governors office for over a century. Since 1980 the governorship has been split with four Louisiana democrats holding the office and four republicans.^[4]

State legislature

As part of the Solid South

Throughout the 1880s Jim Crow laws and institutionalized forms of racism arose in the Solid South. The white democratic elite of this time began making moves to disenfranchise both poor whites and blacks. In 1898 the Democratically held state legislature passed a new constitution aimed at disenfranchising black voters and as a consequence poor white voters also. The new constitution contained voter registration requirements such as: literacy tests, property requirements, and a grandfather clause.^[5] During the Solid South era Louisiana democrats passed laws that provided for segregation. ^[6]

Civil Rights era

Current events

There has been a quick decline in the number of offices the Democratic Party holds, both state wide and at the national level in Louisiana. In 2004 Democrats held both Senate seats as well as six statewide offices. In February 2011, the defection of the only state wide elected Democrat occurred when Louisiana Attorney General, Buddy Caldwell, switched to the Republican Party of Luoisiana.^[7]

See also

• Political party strength in Louisiana

Notes

1. ^ "The Governors of Louisiana". Louisiana Secretary of State. http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.sos.la.gov/tabid/358/Default.aspx. Retrieved 7 November 2011. 
2. ^ "The Governors of Louisiana". Louisiana Secretary of State. http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.sos.la.gov/tabid/358/Default.aspx. Retrieved 7 November 2011. 
3. ^ http://www.lademo.org/ht/a/GetDocumentAction/i/463186
4. ^ "The Governors of Louisiana". Louisiana Secretary of State. http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.sos.la.gov/tabid/358/Default.aspx. Retrieved 7 November 2011. 
5. ^ "State Constitution of Louisiana, 1898, Suffrage and Elections". Yale University. http://www.yale.edu/glc/archive/1154.htm. Retrieved 7 November 2011. 
6. ^ "Jim Crow Laws: Louisiana". http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/scripts/jimcrow/insidesouth.cgi?state=Louisiana. Retrieved 7 November 2011. 
7. ^ "Attorney General Buddy Caldwell switches to Republican". Times-Picayune. http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/02/attorney_general_buddy_caldwel_3.html. Retrieved 7 November 2011. 

External links

• Louisiana Democratic Party