Jim Donelon - U.S. House Campaign, 1980

U.S. House Campaign, 1980

On February 20, 1980, he switched to Republican affiliation to run for the Third Congressional District seat vacated when David Treen became governor. Treen urged the party to coalesce behind Donelon even though there were other longer-tenured Republicans who were interested in making the race. Donelon attracted three Democratic opponents in the special election. The strongest was state Representative Billy Tauzin, then of Thibodaux in Lafourche Parish, who was the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee. Also in the race was state Senator Anthony "Tony" Guarisco of Morgan City in St. Mary Parish, considered a "fiscal conservative" but a "social liberal", who was a strong proponent of the unratified Equal Rights Amendment. Robert "Bob" Namer, who criticized the other three candidates for excessive campaign spending, also ran as a Democrat, but he later switched to the GOP.

Tauzin filed with the Federal Election Commission a complaint which charged that Donelon's campaign donations were tainted. He cited Donelon's series of letters of credit with no interest required through the Jefferson Bank and Trust Company. Such loans violated federal election law, Tauzin noted. Donelon in turn claimed that the first Mrs. Tauzin obtained a $60,000 loan for her husband's campaign and criticized Tauzin for making "a friviolous charge . . . in the waning days of the campaign."

Former Governor Edwin Washington Edwards had initially told Donelon, who had been an Edwards aide prior to 1975, that Edwards would not become involved in the campaign. When Treen began to campaign for Donelon, Edwards endorsed Tauzin, a former floor leader for Edwards. Donelon entered the first round of balloting as a slight favorite in that he had won some 57 percent of the vote in the parishes which then comprised the Third District in the lieutenant governor's race against Bobby Freeman just seven months earlier. Guarisco, who was endorsed by the New Orleans Times-Picayune, which had supported Treen for governor in 1979, said that he did not want the support of either Edwards or Treen because he was "independent of all that." Tauzin was also endorsed by Lieutenant Governor Freeman, Senator Russell B. Long and Congressman John Breaux, whom Donelon would oppose 18 years later in a Senate race.

Donelon led in the first balloting with 37,191 votes (45.1 percent), but he had peaked and could not sufficiently broaden his appeal into the special election runoff. Tauzin followed with 35,384 ballots (42.9 percent); Guarisco had 8,827 (10.7 percent), and Namer only 1,0670 (1.3 percent). Donelon won his own Jefferson Parish with 67.4 percent and eked out a bare 50.5 percent in often Republican-leaning Iberia Parish at the western end of the district. In the other French parishes, Donelon fared poorly, taking just 14.9 percent in Tauzin's home base of Lafourche, 33.5 percent in Terrebonne Parish (Houma), 27.3 percent in St. Mary Parish, 30.2 percent in the two St. Martin Parish precincts in the district, and 38.7 percent in St. Charles Parish. Some 60 percent of Donelon's vote came from Jefferson Parish.

The Republican National Committee joined the National Republican Congressional Committee to raise money nationwide for Donelon. RNC Chairman William "Bill" Brock of Tennessee and congressional chairman Congressman Guy Vander Jagt of Michigan, said that funds were need to purchase media and newspaper advertising to reach undecided voters and to conduct a massive "get-out-the-vote" drive. Brock and Vander Jagt said that the Louisiana special election was "n opportunity to hold this congressional seat. Donelon is an outstanding Republican and former Jefferson Parish president. His Democrat opponent is pro-big labor and a big spender. Democrats and labor bosses will go all out with massive campaign blitz to win control of this district. Republican leaders in Louisiana join us in urgently requesting your immediate action to stop them ...".

The Republican effort to elect Donelon to hold the Treen seat fell short. Tauzin prevailed with 62,108 votes (53.1 percent) to Donelon's 54,815 ballots (46.9 percent). Donelon's 2/3 majority in Jefferson Parish was insufficient to offset huge Tauzin majorities in Lafourche, St. Charles, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Terrebonne parishes. In Iberia Parish, the two split the vote, with Tauzin securing 50.1 percent. The turnout in the May 17 special election runoff was 116,923, compared to 82,462 in the April 19 first round of balloting. The greater participation occurred despite flooding that inundated much of south Louisiana the previous day. Donelon announced after his defeat that he would not challenge Tauzin for a full term later in the year. Tauzin became unbeatable in the district. Even when he switched parties, he was then untouchable by a Democratic opponent.