In the final election of the 2014 midterm season, liberal Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) lost her re-election bid to conservative Bill Cassidy and it wasn’t just because of men.
All issues are women’s issues and women don’t just vote for the female candidates because they’re female. We vote for the candidates who will deliver the best results for us and our families. We also hold responsible those who pursue wrong-headed policies even if well-meaning. This was stunningly on display with this Saturday’s run-off senate election down in the Bayou.
It’s being called the final insult to the Democratic party, but voters in Louisana voted to oust incumbent Landrieu with Cassidy besting Landrieu by 14 points, 57 percent to 43 percent.
Exit polls tell us some interesting things. According to CNN, Less than half of women voters cast their vote for Landrieu (46 percent) while 35 percent voted for Cassidy. Independent women (which comprised 11 percent of the electorate) were spilt between Landrieu and Cassidy with 38 percent each.
Politico reports:
Landrieu, the three-term incumbent who chairs the Senate Energy Committee, found herself cut off and left for dead by national Democrats after party strategists decided she had no realistic path to victory in Saturday’s Bayou State runoff. She lost much of her clout when Democrats lost their majority, and her failure to pass legislation to move forward with the Keystone XL pipeline in the lame duck session last month made her look politically impotent.
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Obama — and his 39-percent approval rating in the November exit poll — has been an anchor on Landrieu all year. In 2008, Landrieu won a majority on election night — pulling 205,000 more votes than Obama and avoiding a runoff.
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Landrieu, delivering her concession at the Roosevelt Hotel in the Big Easy just an hour after polls closed, received some of the loudest cheers when she mentioned her vote for Obamacare.
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But the debate mainly focused on the issues that have defined the contest, such as Obamacare, gun control and abortion. Landrieu is on the wrong side of the state’s electorate on each.
Landrieu's mistake was not in how she campaigned, nor did she lose because her party lost faith in her and pulled tv ad dollars during the runoff. She–and other Democrat incumbents–lost this year because Americans think our nation is on the wrong path. Americans recognize that collectivist and liberal policies, which penalize wealth generators, risk takers, and entrepreneurs, do nothing for our economy, our work force, or our communities other than divide and pass on shared pain.
ObamaCare is probably the biggest example of this. A majority of Americans still don't approve of the sweeping law that was passed in a rushed, clandestine manner to avoid illiminating the terrible policies and harm it would inflict. Laundrieu continues to defend ObamaCare. No amount spin covers up that she is just wrong on the issue.
In coming weeks and months, some feminists may decry the loss of this female senator. Though she was a woman, it doesn't mean she represented the interests of women. Supporting policies that erode the economic earning power of women and families is a candidate that no woman should support. What we desire are more female candidates who will fight for policies that empower us, not victimize us.