TRANSCRIPT
You’re listening to Red River Radio News.
Good morning, I’m Jeff Ferrell.
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INTRO:
The 2026 Midterm election is now in the history books.
While the “blue wave” became readily apparent for the nation as a whole, Louisiana did not see the same results.
Republican Congresswoman Julia Letlow won her race to be the next U.S. Senator from Louisiana – but it was close.
With nearly 1.5 million votes cast… the margin of victory came down to less than 26,000, 50 to 49% against Democrat Jamie Davis.
At Letlow’s watch party in Monroe last night, former Republican state representative, and then state senator, Mike Walsworth, said they didn’t do enough to highlight her track record:
SOT:
“Probably didn't do what we should have done. We should have touted her experience versus your opponent. You have to give the separation, and I'm not sure that we did that a good job.”
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In Louisiana’s 4th Congressional District, House speaker Mike Johnson handily won re-election with 58% of the vote.
So too did fellow Republicans Steve Scalise in District 1, and Clay Higgins in District 3.
Democrat Troy Carter also won re-election in Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District.
In District 5, the seat vacated by Julia Letlow, a crowded field of 9 candidates now comes down to a runoff between Democrat Patricia “Pat” Moore and Republican “Gabe” Firment.
And in an equally crowded race of 10 candidates for the newly-redrawn 6th Congressional District, Democrat Chauna Banks and Republican Blake Miguez will face off in the December 12th runoff election.
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With Louisiana’s 10 proposed constitutional amendments, voters approved 7 of them, but rejected numbers 2, 5, and 10, which only lost by 434 votes out of nearly 68,000.
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In the 7-person field in the Shreveport mayoral race, incumbent Republican Tom Arceneaux won 36% of the vote.
He will face longtime Caddo Parish Commissioner Stormy Gage-Watts - who finished with 23% - in a runoff.
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In the Caddo Parish District Attorney race… Democrat James Stewart won re-election with 54% of the vote, against Republican state Senator Alan Seabaugh who had 41%.
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In Texas… James Talarico becomes the first Democrat to win a U.S. Senate election since 1988, defeating longtime Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton 59-to-39%.
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In the race for Texas governor… Democratic state Representative Gina Hinojosa becomes the first Latina governor of Texas after defeating 3-term incumbent Republican Greg Abbott by a vote of 52-to-46%.
Republican Lt. Governor Dan Patrick also lost his re-election bid, falling to Democratic challenger State Rep. Vikki Goodwin 51-to-45%.
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In Arkansas, Republican U.S. Senator Tom Cotton won re-election for a third term, defeating his democratic challenger, Hallie Shoffner54-to-42%.
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Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders also won re-election, with just under 54% of the vote against Democrat Fred Love.
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All four of the state’s congressional Republicans also won their races.
But The closest race involved District 2 incumbent French Hill, who ran against 2022 Arkansas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chris Jones. With 99% of the votes counted, Hill is up 50-to-49%, separated by 44-hundred votes.
The Associated Press later called the race in favor of Hill.
Each of Arkansas’ four congressional districts have been represented by a Republican since 2013.
The 1st and 2nd districts had been held by Democrats from the end of Reconstruction to the 2010 elections.
<**** FORECAST ****>
The National Weather Service in Shreveport is calling for much calmer weather than yesterday’s storms on election day.
*Today we can expect mostly sunny conditions with a high near 72.
*Tomorrow will be a repeat performance, with the high inching up to 73, then back to 72 Friday.
*By the weekend, the sun may stick around, but the high temps will take a noticeable dip into the mid-60s.
*While thunderstorms moved out of the region overnight, colder temperatures followed behind a cold front, with temperatures falling into the upper 40s to low 50s this morning.
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