Divided House Elects Moderate Republican as Speaker

The battle has been raging for months and now it is over. Moderate Republican Clay Schexnayder of Gonzales has been elected House Speaker on a 60-45 vote.
This is a loss for conservative leaders who were working to get Sherman Mack of Livingston Parish elected as Speaker.

The Democratic caucus helped push Schexnayder into the leadership spot. But he also won the votes of several Republican votes to land the powerful position.

Last month, Mack won the vote of the GOP caucus, but he was not able to sway any Democratic votes and he lost votes of several Republican colleagues.

Schexnayder does say he will make tort reform a priority in the state.

In the meantime, Northwest Louisiana has several new faces in the delegation. Danny McCormick, Tammy Phelps and Thomas Pressly
join the following incumbents from the local area:
Sam Jenkins
Cedric B. Glover
Alan Seabaugh
Lawrence A. "Larry" Bagley
Raymond J. Crews
Dodie Horton
Wayne McMahen

In the Senate, the area has 3 new Senators: Jay Morris, Robert Mills and Barry Milligan. Incumbents Barrow Peacock and Greg Tarver will welcome the new members to the delegation.