NATIONAL ELECTION RETURNS : EDITION-TIME COMPILATIONS : State-by-State Election Reports of Key Races and Issues : Louisiana
Democratic Rep. John Breaux defeated GOP Rep. Henson Moore 52% to 48% in a high-spending bitter contest for the Senate. Democrats retain the seat that has been held since 1948 by retiring Sen. Russell Long, son of the “Kingfish,” Huey Long. Democrats also keep their 6-2 House majority.
Moore outspent Breaux more than 2 to 1, and polls initially showed him ahead in a two-way race, but with help from the machine of Democratic Gov. Edwin Edwards, Breaux pulled ahead.
Both men are conservatives who sided with President Reagan on most issues.
But Republicans claimed a previously Democratic seat in the 8th District, where Clyde Holloway, a conservative nursery owner, defeated Faye Williams, a black Democrat and former House staff member, in an intensely negative personal campaign.
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