Here’s a Crazy Thing: There’s Still a U.S. Senate Seat Up For Grabs in the 2016 Election

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(Via Foster Campbell/Facebook)

The 2016 election ended November 8. Republicans won the White House, control of the House of Representatives, and the Senate by 51 seats to the Democrats’ 48 seats. But there’s still one more senate seat up for grabs, and now the world’s eyes are on Louisiana Democrat Foster Campbell.

In Louisiana, according to Fox News, Democrat Foster Campbell and Republican John Kennedy are facing off over the seat of retiring Republican Senator David Vitter. Neither of the two won more than half the votes during the election last Tuesday, so now Campbell and Kennedy are facing a run-off election on December 10. That means that if Campbell won, the split would be 49-51.

“The difference between a 5248 senate and a 5149 senate is huge,” says Medium’s Jackson Cantrell.

This seat is a big deal, and it’s actually still winnable. Campbell’s a cattle rancher and former teacher who spent 40 years in the Louisiana State Senate. He’s the public service commissioner in Louisiana, and is running against Louisiana state treasurer John Kennedy.

Cantrell enumerates Campbell’s stances, and they’re issues parents all over feel strongly about, like women’s rights, equal pay, and funding public schools.

“His core pillars are raising the minimum wage, funding schools, ensuring equal pay for women, and getting corporate money out of Washington. Consider donating $5 to $50 dollars to his campaign,” Cantrell writes.

Campbell describes himself as a Christian whose concern is giving voices to the voiceless, in many cases, literally. He campaigned heavily to reduce the cost of phone calls to prisons so that families of inmates could talk to their incarcerated parents, children, and loved ones. (Prison is a punishment to the person who committed a crime, but people often forget about the children of incarcerated people, because those kids suffer immensely and sometimes go years without seeing their parents.) He also successfully convinced the government to provide free cell phones during Hurricane Katrina so survivors could stay in contact with families.

This would be a tough race to win, obviously. Campbell is a Democrat in a very red state. Kennedy got more votes than Campbell last week, but neither hit 50 percent because there were several other candidates running. But Campbell has been a state senator for 40 years and won his place on the Louisiana Public Service Commission by more than 78 percent of the vote.

Given the events of last week, this is a very important seat to U.S. Democrats. According to Medium‘s Jackson Cantrell, turnout for the December 10 runoff election is usually awful. Everyone cares about the presidential election, not a senate runoff election a month later. So this one could very well go to whoever gets the most supporters to actually show up at the polls.

Foster Campbell’s site is at FosterCampbell2016.com, and Democrats from across the country can donate small or large amounts as they see fit. They’re also looking for people to volunteer at his phone bank to contact voters in Louisiana and urge them to get out and show up on December 10.

People will be awaiting the results of this last election with bated breath.

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