Dan Richey - Defeat in 1983

Defeat in 1983

In 1983, Richey was unseated by state Representative William "Billy" Atkins of Jonesville, when the Democrat Edwin Edwards scored a landslide over Republican Governor David C. Treen. Atkins had also succeeded Richey in the state House four years earlier. Atkins was succeeded in the House by future Louisiana Secretary of State Al Ater, also of Ferriday. Richey said that his close identification with Treen worked against him. Atkins was the choice of powerful Louisiana AFL-CIO President Victor Bussie. "Like my colleague from Alexandria, Ned Randolph, we were ousted in the Edwards wave of 1983. I lost by about the same margin that I had won on the two previous occasions, 57-43 percent," Richey explained.

Earlier, Richey had warned Edwards that the Ronald W. Reagan election would mean Republican U.S. attorneys, who might launch investigations of the governor and his business and gubernatorial connections: "What better way to protect an incumbent Republican Governor like Dave Treen than by having his chief opponent under investigation or indictment leading up to the 1983 election? While Richey was wrong about the White House protecting Treen, he was prophetic about the later investigations of Edwin Edwards.