| CNN | - |
Your
video will begin momentarily. STORY HIGHLIGHTS. Rep. Bill Cassidy, a
Republican, won Louisiana's runoff Saturday night; He becomes the ninth
GOP pickup in the Senate this election cycle; Incumbent Democrat Sen.
Mary Landrieu campaigned ...
Mary Landrieu swept away by red tide as GOP picks up 9th seat
updated 12:21 AM EST, Sun December 7, 2014
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STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Rep. Bill Cassidy, a Republican, won Louisiana's runoff Saturday night
- He becomes the ninth GOP pickup in the Senate this election cycle
- Incumbent Democrat Sen. Mary Landrieu campaigned through Saturday
CNN called the race for
her Republican opponent Rep. Bill Cassidy a little over a half hour
after the polls closed. Republicans picked up nine Senate seats this
election cycle and will have control of 54 seats in the chamber next
year.
Once seen as Democrats'
strongest incumbent, Landrieu ended up such a long-shot in her runoff
with Cassidy that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee cut its
investment in the state, a move that Landrieu decried as leaving "a
soldier on the field."
In her concession speech,
Landrieu touted her own "record of courage, honesty and integrity and
delivering for the state when it mattered the most."
The senator also said she
didn't regret her vote for Obamacare, which the GOP used to attack her
and every other vulnerable Democratic senator this cycle.
"This is something to be proud of, and I'm glad we fought for it," she said, touting some of the benefits of the law.
"Shake it Off," Taylor
Swift's pop anthem to moving past defeat and ignoring critics, played as
Landrieu hugged the staff and family members gathered on the stage.
And tears could be seen throughout the crowd as the event wound down on Saturday night.
An energetic Cassidy, meanwhile, opened his victory speech with a surprised, "whoa!"
He told his supporters
his win was the "exclamation point" on the declaration that "we want our
country to go in a conservative direction," which was made with the
GOP's resounding wins on Nov. 4.
He was introduced at his
victory party by GOP Sen. David Vitter, who endorsed the congressman
and has been active in the race for him. And Cassidy was joined on stage
by his onetime GOP foe in the race, retired Air Force colonel Rob
Maness, who ran as a conservative alternative to him during the first
round of voting but endorsed him in the runoff.
Landrieu ran hard through the very end, insisting even Saturday morning, outside the school where she cast her ballot, that there was still a shot.
Hambycast: Louisiana Senate Runoff
Sen. Landrieu seeks last minute help
Landrieu, any Democrat in Louisiana will remind you, had pulled off stunning upsets before. And a late-breaking controversy surrounding Cassidy's part-time work for Louisiana State University gave Democrats some hope that they could damage him in the final moments of the race.
But the controversy came
too late to pick up much traction, despite Landrieu hammering him at
campaign stops throughout the week on it.
Landrieu's campaign
pitch centered around her clout in the Senate, and what she can do for
the state in Washington. But that argument lost much of its potency on
Nov. 4, when Democrats lost the Senate and Landrieu could no longer tout
a committee chairmanship.
And Landrieu was never
able to effectively localize the race and distance herself from the
president, while Republicans tied her to him at every opportunity.
Indeed, even Landrieu's supporters seemed to know it was over before Election Night.
Andrea Neighbours, a supporter at the party, was visibly disappointed when told the race had been called for Cassidy.
But she admitted: "Well, it was coming."
And Cassidy ran a
largely error-free, if exceptionally safe, campaign. He held infrequent
campaign stops during the runoff and stayed entirely out of the state
for the final week of the runoff, returning only for a Monday debate and
two rallies Friday.
On Saturday, he was taking a professional development course at the hospital where he works.
But a troupe of
volunteers were out Saturday across the state canvassing for him. An
army of GOP operatives descended on the runoff, many of whom came to the
state after finishing top races elsewhere in the nation.
The Republican National
Committee had around 300 staffers in the state and used the runoff
period as a testing ground for field and data methods.
And GOP groups
supporting Cassidy bombarded Landrieu with millions in attack ads, while
a handful of small Democratic groups spent less than half a million for
her in the runoff.
Republicans wanted, they said, to put an "exclamation mark" on their wins on Nov. 4.
Even Landrieu's deep
familiarity with the state and family name couldn't save her. Moon
Landrieu, the senator's father, is a popular former mayor of New
Orleans, and Mitch, her brother, is the city's current mayor.
Landrieu canvassed the
neighborhood surrounding her father's home on Satuday, much of which is
home to low-income and African American residents. She stopped at
66-year-old Aida Gray's house, just a few blocks away from her family's,
to shake hands and ask if she would be heading to the polls.
Gray later said that of course she would, because she had known the senator for decades.
"She's a good person, and she'd make a better senator than Cassidy," she said.
But despite her belief
that Landrieu was the best candidate for the job, Gray acknowledged the
odds were stacked against the senator.
"It's in God's hands now," she said.
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