1996 LA Senatorial Election

The 1996 Louisiana Senatorial Election, a close contest between Treasurer Mary Landrieu and Louisiana House Membet Woody Jenkins resulted in a Landrieu win in what was the closest senate race in 1996

Fearing a Two Democrat runoff or a David Duke vs Democrat the GOP consolidated around Jenkins, leaving Landrieu and State Attorney General Richard Ieyoub to fight for second place—a fight Mary Landrieu won.

However, the aformentioned consolidation was not without its toll, as by the time the runoff campaign came around, Jenkin's campaign was broke and spent.

As a result this allowed Landrieu to make up the 11% Gap (the GOP had outvoted Dems 55-44%) through outspending Jenkins

Here, she attacked Jenkins as an extremist for his conservative beliefs such as calling for the abolition of the IRS and his no restrictions pro-life stance, whereas Jenkins attacked Landrieu for supporting Gay and Abortion rights

However, Landrieu campaign hit a snag when Catholic Archbishop Phillip Hannan said if "a person actually believes in Catholic doctrine, then I don't see how they can vote for Landrieu without a feeling of sin."

But in the end this didn't end up mattering, as—despite some dropped post elections claims of fraud after Jenkins lost—Landrieu won by a close 0.3% margin.