BATON ROUGE, La., (KNOE 8 News) - The period for qualifying to run in the upcoming November election here in Louisiana ends this evening.
And at this point, the candidate traffic has been slow, especially among Democrats. As of Noon today, Libertarians have signed up for more congressional races than Democrats.
Most of the activity has been in the Supreme Court race, due largely to the upcoming retirement of Chief Justice Catherine "Kitty" Kimball.
Thus far, this is the list of those signed up (as of the close of business Thursday):
U.S. HOUSE, 1st DISTRICT:
Gary King, R-New Orleans; Steve Scalise (incumbent), R-Jefferson; and Arden Wells, I-Ponchatoula.
U.S. HOUSE, 2nd DISTRICT:
Josue Larose, R-New Orleans; and Cedric Richmond (incumbent), D-New Orleans.
U.S. HOUSE, 3rd DISTRICT:
Bryan Barrilleaux, R-Lake Charles; Charles Boustany Jr. (incumbent), R-Lafayette; Jeff Landry (incumbent), R-New Iberia; and Jim Stark, Libertarian-Lake Charles.
U.S. HOUSE, 4th DISTRICT:
John Fleming (incumbent), R-Minden; and Randall Lord, Libertarian-Shreveport.
U.S. HOUSE, 5th DISTRICT:
Rodney Alexander (incumbent), R-Quitman.
U.S. HOUSE, 6th DISTRICT:
William "Bill" Cassidy (incumbent), R-Baton Rouge; Rufus Craig Jr., Libertarian-Baton Rouge; and Richard "RPT" Torregano, I-Baton Rouge.
SUPREME COURT, 5th DISTRICT:
John Michael Guidry, D-Baton Rouge; Toni Manning Higginbotham, R-Baton Rouge; Jeff Hughes, R-Walker; Timothy "Tim" Kelley, R-Baton Rouge; William "Bill" Morvant, R-Baton Rouge; Mary Olive Pierson, D-Baton Rouge; and J. E. "Duke" Welch, R-Baton Rouge.
SUPREME COURT, 6th DISTRICT:
John Weimer (incumbent), I-Thibodaux.
PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION, 2nd DISTRICT:
Scott Angelle, R-Breaux Bridge; Erich Ponti, R-Baton Rouge; and Ed Roy, R-Lafayette.
Qualifying officially ends at 5pm today.
