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Parish results Landrieu: 40-50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% Kennedy: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% | |||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in Louisiana |
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 Government |
The 2008 United States Senate election in Louisiana was held on November 4, 2008. This was the first time since the 1970s that Louisiana used primaries for federal races. Incumbent Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu won reelection to a third term, defeating Republican (and former Democrat) John Kennedy. Despite being forecast as one of the most vulnerable Senate Democrats during 2008, Landrieu won a comfortable victory of 6.4 percentage points due to the national Democratic lean.
Landrieu had received praise and wide publicity for her advocacy after Hurricane Katrina, particularly during hearings regarding FEMA's response to the disaster. Kennedy had switched parties in 2007, just one year before the election, garnering allegations of being a political opportunist.[1] Kennedy would go on to win the state's other U.S. Senate seat in 2016. As of 2022[update], this was the last time that the Democrats won a U.S. Senate election in Louisiana.[citation needed]
Landrieu's increased vulnerability was supposed to be the result of a significant drop in the state's African-American population after Hurricane Katrina, especially in Landrieu's home city of New Orleans. Louisiana also elected a Republican senator in 2004 and President Bush carried the state twice, in 2004 with 58 percent of the vote. Also, Republican Congressman Bobby Jindal won the 2007 gubernatorial election with 54 percent of the vote. After a continued backslide in support for the Democrats, Landrieu would go on to lose her seat by 12 points in 2014 to Bill Cassidy.
| Source | Ranking | As of |
|---|---|---|
| The Cook Political Report[2] | Lean D | October 23, 2008 |
| CQ Politics[3] | Lean D | October 31, 2008 |
| Rothenberg Political Report[4] | Lean D | November 2, 2008 |
| Real Clear Politics[5] | Lean D | October 23, 2008 |
| Poll Source | Dates administered | Mary Landrieu (D) |
John Kennedy (R) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rasmussen Reports | October 21, 2008 | 53% | 43% |
| Rasmussen Reports | September 25, 2008 | 54% | 41% |
| Rasmussen Reports | August 17, 2008 | 56% | 39% |
| Rasmussen Reports | July 9, 2008 | 49% | 44% |
| Southern Media & Opinion Research | July 1, 2008 | 46% | 40% |
| Rasmussen Reports | May 28, 2008 | 47% | 44% |
| Southern Media & Opinion Research | March 26 – April 9, 2008 | 50% | 38% |
| Survey USA | December 6–10, 2007 | 46% | 42% |
Though she was considered one of the most vulnerable incumbent senators in 2008, Landrieu won reelection by a margin of 121,121 votes and 6.39%, over-performing Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama in the state by more than 12 percentage points.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Mary Landrieu (incumbent) | 988,298 | 52.11% | +0.41% | |
| Republican | John Kennedy | 867,177 | 45.72% | -2.58% | |
| Libertarian | Richard Fontanesi | 18,590 | 0.98% | n/a | |
| Independent | Jay Patel | 13,729 | 0.72% | n/a | |
| Independent | Robert Stewart | 8,780 | 0.46% | n/a | |
| Majority | 121,121 | 6.39% | +2.99 | ||
| Turnout | 1,896,574 | 100.0% | |||
| Democratic hold | Swing | ||||
