Paul Braun

Last week, the 72nd Louisiana Legislature convened for the first time, electing new leaders in a brief organizational session.

After months of backroom negotiations, they settled on Clay Schexnayder, R-Gonzales, for Speaker of the House and Page Cortez, R-Lafayette, as Senate President.

Both positions were hotly contested behind closed doors, but things boiled over in the Speaker's race.

Democrat John Bel Edwards officially began his second term as Louisiana Governor Monday, taking his oath of office on the Capitol steps.

A drizzling rain fell over the crowd for much of the morning. Still, hundreds filled the capitol lawn to witness the ceremony. 

The Louisiana Legislature is days away from the start of a new term. Monday morning, lawmakers will gavel in the 2020 Organizational Session.

Once, everyone is sworn in, lawmakers will set committees and, most notably, elect new leaders.

Campaigns for Speaker of the House and Senate President are fought outside of the public eye and have been underway for months.

Today, we're taking a look back at the year in Louisiana politics.

In 2019, we saw some things change and others stay the same.

Democrat John Bel Edwards earned another four years in the governor's mansion, but it was a lonely victory. Republicans won every other statewide race and have unprecedented control in the House and Senate.

And there were some changes on this program as well. Wallis Watkins has left Capitol Access, but she was kind enough to come back and talk through some of the big stories of 2019.

Governor John Bel Edwards held his traditional year-end press conference last week. It marked not only the end of 2019, but the end of his first term.

His core message?

“Our state is operating from a position of strength, not the position of weakness where we were four years ago,” Edwards said.

The Democratic governor touted budget stability, GDP growth, Medicaid expansion-- all familiar talking points from the campaign trail.

And his plans for 2020 sounded awfully familiar too.