( - promoted by ryan)
 This race is in New Orleans, specifically in Central City, Downtown, the Garden District and parts of Uptown and Carrollton; and is taking place between two current state representatives - Gray and Jefferson-Bullock - who are vying to take over the seat from current State Senator Diana Bajoie, who was term-limited, and recently lost a bid to serve as the At-Large Council Member for the New Orleans City Council.
At the start of the race, Rep. Jefferson-Bullock attempted to knock Rep. Gray off the ballot, claiming that she didn't live in the district. That issue has been resolved in favor of Rep. Gray. The two have similar views on the issues as far as I can tell, making the major, albeit unspoken, issue of the campaign the legal troubles of Rep. Jefferson-Bullock's father, U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, the overriding issue.
Both sides have received endorsements, with Rep. Jefferson-Bullock being endorsed by everybody's favorite Mayor, C. Ray Nagin, and a variety of unions and local elected officials; while Rep. Gray received the endorsements of The Gambit, the Times-Picayune, and the Alliance for Good Government. Please note that all endorsements were for the jungle primary, but I would be surprised if any of the endorsements change.
Rep. Gray seems to be running a grassroots campaign, going door to door on a daily basis to get the word out about her campaign. I cannot tell what kind of campaign Rep. Jefferson-Bullock is running, as her website is not updated often.
What happens in this race may depend on what the 3rd place finisher, David Williams, who missed the run-off by a mere 50 votes, does in the coming days. Will he endorse Cheryl or Jalila? Will he stay silent? I should tell you that he actually sued to overturn the election results because one of the candidates who withdrew from the race - an Andrew Gresset (R) - still had name on the ballot. Mr. Gresset received some 1,500 votes that by law were not counted. Mr. Williams contends that he would have gotten enough of those votes to make the run-off because he was endorsed by the Republican Party after Mr. Gresset withdrew from the race.
Then again, as Oyster over at YHRT told me, the scandal enveloping Rep. William Jefferson, IS the unspoken issue in the race, which Rep. Cheryl Gray is highlighting by telling voters, "there's no scandal around me."
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