Senate, House seats to be decided in Saturday voting

Early voting numbers show interest in Saturday’s election may be lagging behind the November vote, which included the presidential election.
Early voting for Saturday election ended Dec. 3 with 174,889 votes cast in the state compared to 531,555 in November.
Voting numbers are from the Louisiana Secretary of State’s website.
In St. Landry Parish, there were 1,981 early votes cast for this Saturday’s election compared to 6,781 early votes in November.
In Acadia Parish, 2,672 votes were cast early for Saturday’s election, down from 6,182 early votes cast for the Nov. 8 election.
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday for the Congressional General Election.
Statewide, Democrat Foster Campbell and Republican John Kennedy are vying for the U.S. Senate seat left open by Sen. David Vitter. Vitter decided not to run for reelection after losing the governor’s race to John Bel Edwards.
Kennedy has been state treasurer since 1999 and Campbell is a Public Service Commissioner.
In the November election, Kennedy got 25 percent of the vote and Campbell received 17.5 percent.
There are two other elections Saturday in the area.
In Eunice, voters will help decide who is going to represent the sprawling 4th Congressional District.
Democrat Marshall Jones, a Shreveport lawyer, led in the November general election, but faces state Rep. Mike Johnson, of Bossier City. Johnson represents the 8th District in the Legislature.
Jones faces an uphill battle in Saturday’s election. In the November election he received 28 percent of the vote, but all but 2 percent of the rest of the vote went to Republicans.
In the 3rd Congressional District, which includes Acadia Parish, Republicans Scott Angelle and Clay Higgins are running for the job left open when Rep. Charles Boustany, R-Lafayette, ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate.
Angelle is a Public Service Commission member.
Higgins is a former spokesman for the St. Landry Parish Sheriff who was terminated after his controversial role with Crime Stoppers.
In the November election, Angelle received 28.5 percent of the vote and Higgins garnered 26.5 percent.
A breakdown of early voting in St. Landry Parish for Saturday’s election shows: 1,206 white voters; 740 black voters; 1,163 Democrats; and 628 Republicans.
In Acadia Parish: 2,395 white voters; 253 black voters; 1,385 Democrats; and 1,128 Republicans.
In Evangeline Parish there were 780 early votes, which included: 669 white voters; 336 black voters; 421 Democrats; and 282 Republicans.
In the state breakdown, there were: 128,632 white voters; 41,537 black voters; 80,268 Democrats; and 72,725 Republicans.