Winning and Losing
In 1975, Donelon ran successfully for Jefferson Parish President, the equivalent of Mayor of the large suburban parish outside New Orleans. He was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives in 1982, 1983, 1987, 1991, 1995, and 1999. He resigned midway through his fifth full term to join Wooley's staff.
In 1979, Donelon passed up a reelection bid to the Jefferson Parish Council to make an unsuccessful race for Lieutenant Governor against his then fellow Democrat, Robert Louis "Bobby" Freeman of Plaquemine in Iberville Parish. Donelon was considered the "conservative" in that race to the "liberal" Freeman. Most of the supporters of David C. Treen, the winner of the gubernatorial election that year, are believed to have backed Donelon, and most of the backers of Democrat Louis J. Lambert went with Freeman. There was also a Republican in the race, Russel C. "Russ" Kiger, II, then a field representative of the National Cash Register Company based in Baton Rouge. Kiger said that his views parallelled those of Treen and claimed that his non-political technical background would have benefited state government. Yet, Kiger polled only 46,847 votes in the primary, fewer than half of the registered Republicans then on the Louisiana voter rolls, and was hence eliminated from the Donelon-Freeman general election. Jesse Monroe Knowles, a state senator and decorated World War II veteran from Lake Charles, was yet another candidate in the lieutenant governor's contest. Early in 1980, both Donelon and Knowles switched to Republican affiliation.
In the spring of 1980, Donelon ran unsuccessfully as the Republican consensus choice for the seat that Treen vacated in the United States House of Representatives from the 3rd congressional district. He was defeated by the Democrat Billy Tauzin, who fourteen years later in 1995 switched to Republican affiliation. In 1998, Donelon lost a race for the U.S. Senate against the Democrat John Breaux. Both Tauzin and Breaux retired from the House and Senate, respectively, in January 2005. In the spring of 1999, Donelon lost still another race to a fellow Republican for a state judgeship in Jefferson Parish.
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