Sen. Mary Landrieu loses runoff re-election bid


Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) on Saturday lost a runoff election to retain her seat, falling to Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) by about 12 percentage points, 56 percent to 44 percent.
Cassidy was widely expected to win the runoff after neither candidate cleared 50 percent in the first round of voting. The outcome seemed so certain the Democratic campaign arm pulled its ad buys mere days after the midterms, thus effectively conceding the race and leading Landrieu to accuse the national party of having "walked away" from her.
The outcome gives the GOP a 54-seat majority in the next Senate, and it leaves Democrats with no senators remaining in the nation's Deep South.
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Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.
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