Republican Steve Scalise will keep his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives for a 10th full term.
WWL-TV called the 1st Congressional District race for Scalise before 9:30 pm Tuesday night.
Scalise had about 63% of the vote by then, with most precincts reporting results.
The district includes all of St. Tammany and Plaquemines parishes and parts of Jefferson, Orleans, St. Bernard, Tangipahoa, Lafourche and Terrebonne.
Scalise had three opponents: Democrat Lauren Jewett, Republican Randall Arrington and E. “Liddy” Glass, who has no party affiliation.
Jewett, a special education teacher, was trailing in second with about 32% of the vote when WWL-TV called the race.
The election was moved from May after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Louisiana v. Callais that the state’s congressional map was “an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.”
Lawmakers drew a new map in May that eliminated the state’s second majority-Black district and moved congressional races to an open primary on Nov. 3, with a Dec. 12 runoff if no candidate wins a majority.
Scalise is the House Majority Leader and the second-highest-ranking Republican, behind Speaker Mike Johnson, who is from Northwest Louisiana.
Scalise, then a state senator, was first elected to the U.S. House in a May 2008 special election to replace Bobby Jindal, who had become governor.
Scalise hasn’t faced a serious challenge since then and has easily won reelection every two years. As a top party leader, he raises money and campaigns for Republicans across the country.
Jewett raised about $716,300 as of mid-October, according to federal filings. Her campaign says that’s more than any of Scalise’s past Democratic challengers.
Finance records show most of the money came from individuals who gave $200 or less. Jewett’s campaign said the average donation was about $20.
“I teach kids for a living. I know what $20 means to a family in this district,” Jewett said in a press release last month.
“When thousands of people give what they can to a teacher running against one of the most powerful Republicans in Congress, that says something. People across this district deserve a representative who shows up, listens and delivers for them.”
Scalise’s campaign had raised about $11.2 million this cycle, most of it transferred from other committees, and had spent about $12.4 million as of mid-October. About $2 million came from individuals and political action committees.
