2002 Senate Election
Terrell challenged freshman Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu's bid for reelection. Terrell made it into the general election with Landrieu, finishing in the primary ahead of Congressman John Cooksey of Monroe and Tony Perkins, a state representative from East Baton Rouge Parish.
The Landrieu-Terrell matchup was the last Senate race decided that year. Terrell's campaign attracted national attention, including visits from President George W. Bush and his father, George Herbert Walker Bush, and Vice President Richard Cheney. Terrell had been an elector for the Bush-Cheney slate in 2000.
Landrieu was reelected largely on the basis of her 79,000-vote plurality in Orleans Parish. She polled roughly 42,000 votes ahead of Terrell statewide, defeating her 52-48 percent.
In a debate with Landrieu in 2002, the senator lashed out at Terrell and told her the Senate race would be "her last campaign", but it was not. In 2003, Terrell ran unsuccessfully for attorney general of Louisiana, losing to a Democrat backed by the Landrieu family, Charles C. Foti, Jr., the former Orleans Parish criminal sheriff. Foti received 54 percent of the vote to Terrell's 46 percent.
Read more about this topic: Suzanne Haik Terrell
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