Cory Booker, Tim Scott to rally La. voters in Senate runoff

The U.S. Senate's only black members will visit Louisiana this weekend to support opposing candidates in the state's hotly contested runoff between Mary Landrieu and Bill Cassidy.

Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, a political rock star among Democrats, will campaign for Landrieu in Shreveport.  Farther west, Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, a Tea Party favorite, will stump with Cassidy at a rally in Monroe.

The two senators made history earlier this month: They are the first African-American senators  to win popular elections to serve together. (Scott had originally been appointed to his South Carolina seat.) Both won new terms on Election Day, and each is the first black senator from his state.

Their upcoming appearances in Louisiana offer a reminder of what Albert Samuels, a political scientist at Southern University in Baton Rouge, says is an undeniable theme of the Landrieu-Cassidy runoff. More than 31% of the state's registered voters are black.

"We try to be polite about this, but there's an underlying racial narrative to this whole race," he said.

Landrieu, in particular, needs black voters to win. Traditionally, black voters support Democratic candidates. Landrieu, the underdog in the runoff, has ramped up efforts to court those voters, including relying on surrogates such as Booker.

“He’s a personality,’’ said David Bositis, a political analyst who specializes in Southern politics. “He’s probably going down there to try to rouse up black voters for Mary Landrieu. He is popular. He got virtually all the black voters in his election.’’

Scott, by contrast, took only 10% of the black vote in South Carolina, according to exit polls.

“He’s not going (to Louisiana) to appeal to black voters,’’ Bositis said. “He is very slick, though, so I could see him going down there to appeal to base Republican voters, who are white.”

But Kirstin Alvanitakis, spokeswoman for the Louisiana Democratic Party, believes Scott’s visit is part of Cassidy’s attempt to attract black voters.

“They’re welcome to bring folks in to talk to African Americans, but ultimately they need to be making an appeal based on policies,’’ she said, ‘’And their policies are terrible.’’

Cassidy’s campaign said the congressman invited Scott, who served with him in the U.S. House, to visit Saturday. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., will also join Cassidy this weekend. Scott and other Cassidy supporters “know the importance of this election and how we need to change direction in Washington,’’ said John Cummins, a campaign spokesman.

Donna Brazile, a Democrat strategist and a New Orleans native, said she doesn’t think the visits by Booker and Scott are about courting any particular group of voters.

“I think it’s about the race to make sure that voters remember that there’s still a runoff,’’ she said.