Dems keep state House – barely

(AP) – Democrats maintained their hold on the state House of Representatives, with Saturday’s runoff elections giving them the slimmest of majorities: 53 seats in the 105-member chamber.

Republicans will take 50 House seats when new terms begin in January, and independents will hold two seats, according to unofficial results from the secretary of state’s office.

“There were a couple races that were very close. We were hoping to pick up a couple more seats, but that’s the nature of the beast,” said Danny Ford, executive director of the Louisiana Democratic Party.

The GOP, which last controlled the House in 1878, had hoped to regain the majority. But though it fell short, the party gained seven seats in the House and will hold a dozen more seats in the chamber than it did when the last terms began in 2004.

James Quinn, executive director of the Republican Party of Louisiana, said he wasn’t disappointed with the runoff results. “I think we’ve made great strides over the last four years,” he said.

The Senate also will maintain its Democratic majority, with 24 Democrats and 15 Republicans in the 39-member chamber.

Most incumbents seeking re-election held onto their jobs. At least one House member was ousted, state Rep. Carla Dartez, D-Morgan City, who angered civil rights leaders after she ended a conversation with the mother of the NAACP’s local president by saying, “Talk to you later, Buckwheat.”

Buckwheat, a black child character in the “Little Rascals” comedies of the 1930s and ’40s, is considered a racist stereotype. Dartez said she regretted the comment, but local NAACP leaders asked voters to cast ballots for Dartez’s opponent, Republican Joe Harrison.

Dartez’s re-election bid already had been troubled because she was given a summons for improper lane usage after hitting a pedestrian with her vehicle. She failed a field sobriety test but passed a later Breathalyzer test. Meanwhile, Dartez’s husband was indicted for allegations that he hired illegal aliens to work for his construction business.

Dartez’s seat once had been considered a safe win for the Democrats, but the incumbent representative lost to Harrison, a Napoleonville Republican.

“We were disappointed. Carla faced an uphill battle for several different issues,” Ford said.

Both sides acknowledge the majority in the House is slim. Democrats don’t have a big enough majority to be considered a mandate, and they fall well short of the two-thirds vote needed to pass many of the biggest ticket items in the House.

With a Republican governor taking office next year and a Democratic-controlled Legislature, both sides will have to work together, said Shreveport pollster Elliott Stonecipher.

Republicans made huge gains this election cycle. Four years ago, the GOP held just one statewide elected position, but when the new terms begin in 2008, Republicans will control five of the seven statewide elected posts _ including the governor’s office, which Bobby Jindal won outright in the primary.

“I think Republicans are close enough that they can claim that they made huge gains and get whatever hype they want for the party,” Stonecipher said.

“Look at the cycle as a whole. It has to be considered a success for the Republican Party. …we’ve gained seats,” Quinn said.