La. sends Scalise, Cazayoux to Congress

BATON ROUGE, La., May 3 (UPI) -- Louisiana state Sen. Steve Scalise and state Rep. Don Cazayoux won special elections Saturday to represent the state in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Scalise easily beat three opponents, taking 75.3 percent of the vote in an election to determine a successor to Bobby Jindal, who resigned from Congress after his election in October as governor of Louisiana. Scalise, a Republican, will represent what the New Orleans Times-Picayune called a "decidedly conservative" congressional district.

Cazayoux, on the other hand is a Democrat who, with Saturday's victory, moved a House seat out of the Republican column with a 49.2 percent to 46.27 percent victory over Republican state Rep. Woody Jenkins. Cazayoux will succeed retired Rep. Richard Baker.

U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md. -- the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee -- issued a statement saying Cazayoux won despite efforts by House Republicans to use "false and deceptive smears" in a $1 million campaign in a district that had been held by the GOP for more than 30 years.