WASHINGTON_Republicans have increased their Senate majority to 52 seats after Saturday's Louisiana runoffs, the final elections of 2016.
Associated Press called the Senate race for state Treasurer John Kennedy shortly before 10 p.m. With 32 percent of precincts reporting. Kennedy led with 63 percent of the vote to 37 percent for Democratic Public Services Commissioner Foster Campbell.
Kennedy had led in recent polling, but Campbell had received late fundraising help from Democrats who saw him as the last chance to redeem themselves after a bruising election year.
Kennedy finished first and Campbell finished second in the 24-person election on Nov. 8, but since no candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote, a Dec. 10 runoff was triggered.
As a senator, Kennedy's expected to be more anti-establishment than some of the Bayou State's previous senators, but unlike hardliners like Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, he's driven more by populism than conservatism.
Kennedy ran as an outsider candidate, boasting about his early support for president-elect Donald Trump. Trump campaigned with him in the state on Friday. But this was hardly Kennedy's first attempt to come to Washington. The former Democrat ran for Senate in 2004, when he endorsed John Kerry for president. He switched parties in 2007 and unsuccessfully challenged Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu in 2008.
