At various times during his quarter of a century in office, former U.S. Sen. David Vitter was described many ways: A rising star, a thorn in the side of fellow Republicans, lead player in a Washington sex scandal, a comeback kid, the most powerful…

Ladies and gentlemen, we finally have ourselves a governor’s race. Or more likely, we don’t, at least not much of one.

So what was that, U.S. Sen. John Kennedy’s months-long flirtation with a gubernatorial run not even halfway into his first U.S. Senate term, other than a great big tease?

One sign that partisanship has poisoned Washington, D.C., is that matters that once drew across-the-board support now create standstills, or standoffs.

With a new mayor and an unusually assertive City Council, there’s often a who’s-in-charge vibe around New Orleans City Hall these days.

The University of New Orleans’ new quality of life survey, released this week, offered good news for many area leaders.

A good rule of thumb for politicians is that they shouldn’t read too much into a single poll.

When President Donald Trump started tweeting recently about rapidly dropping oil prices — never mind all that ugliness with Saudi Arabia — he hoped his supporters would start celebrating.

There was one genuine concern hanging over Tuesday morning’s meeting of the state Revenue Estimating Conference. It involved whether a recent drop in oil prices would undercut the good-news figures economists came up with before the newest data was in.

The 2018 elections are finally — mostly — settled. And we all know what that means: It’s time to start talking about 2020. And indeed, some prominent politicians are beginning to say out loud what everyone knows they’ve been thinking all along, th…

Once the newly elected Congress reconvenes in January, all eyes are going to be on House Democrats, whose big Election Night earlier this month positions them to take over control of the chamber and lead every committee. Among other things, that m…

With the Senate still in Republican hands, the House soon to be run by Democrats and the 2020 presidential election season about to kick off in earnest, the general consensus is the next Congress won’t be able to get much of anything done. Based o…

We’ve had plenty of politicians, even presidents, who’ve served under clouds. But a court-appointed Zulu King? That’s too much.

Louisiana’s looming gubernatorial race came into sharper focus this week when Attorney Jeff Landry said he would not be a candidate in 2019, but instead run for reelection to his current job. Yet the bigger news came not from Baton Rouge but Washi…

Nobody appears to relish the idea of going head to head with Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards more than Attorney General Jeff Landry, who has battled with the administration over health care, the death penalty, LGBTQ rights and more.

It looks like newly re-elected U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise is going to keep at least one election season promise. After watching his party lose its House majority in a slow-motion but ultimately decisive defeat, he reiterated his pledge to stay in Was…

The writers for HBO’s satirical show “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” might want to get a weekend place in Louisiana. They’ve certainly figured out that there’s plenty of good material here.

Enjoy the Thanksgiving break, Louisiana voters. Maybe try to talk about something other than politics over dinner, if your family dynamics allow for that. Then watch the Saints (hopefully) make a second meal of the Atlanta Falcons on national television.

There’s no longer any suspense over what role U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise will play in the next Congress. With control now firmly in Democratic hands, the current majority whip will not be eligible to move up to majority leader or even House speaker, …

The first question after every big election is who’s up and who’s down — or to borrow a term from my Gambit colleague Clancy DuBos, “Da Winnas and Da Loozas.” An equally compelling level of analysis is less about who than about what.

As expected, U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise had an early night. And as expected, he probably won’t get a great night’s sleep.

Hopefully most people in Louisianans aren’t having too much trouble voting today, or didn’t if they decided to cast their ballots early.

No matter what voters in all those states with hotly contested elections in other states decide Tuesday, the larger political world will look different once the votes are counted.

Attorney General Jeff Landry has something of an m.o.: Throw out some position on some red meat issue and see if it sticks.

With the 2018 election season down to its final days, some of Louisiana’s six incumbents in Congress are making a big last push. They’re not knocking on every door and chasing each possible vote in their own districts, though. Instead, they’re foc…

The secret to plausible deniability is right there in the beginning of the short phrase. Anyone can deny anything. The key is to make the denial plausible.

Sometimes old political operatives don’t fade away, they just move on to a different state. Such is the case with the crew that once tried to mold ex-Gov. Bobby Jindal into national material, according to The Kansas City Star.

There’s lots of talk about sports betting these days. That’s because the U.S. Supreme Court recently legalized the practice nationwide, and Mississippi has, as usual, been more aggressive than Louisiana in pursuing this new, potentially lucrative …

U.S. Sen. John Kennedy hasn’t yet said that he’ll be a candidate for governor next fall, but some of his fellow Republicans aren’t waiting to line up for him — or against.

I’m betting that most Americans of good will are heartsick at the past week’s news. First came the rash of bombs sent to high-profile Democrats and CNN, which thankfully did not go off, although it’s not clear whether that was by design or incompe…

Support for Medicaid expansion in Louisiana was a winning issue for Gov. John Bel Edwards in 2015. It was a such a no-brainer that Edwards, the race’s lone Democrat, was joined by his three major Republicans in promising to implement this section …

With so much going wrong in politics, so many issues on which the two sides are not only at odds but utterly unwilling to even acknowledge potential common ground, criminal justice reform stands out as a rare exception.

Tom Schedler was low-profile, until he wasn’t.