Changes

In his last Senate term, Blair was also elected on a nonpartisan ballot as a delegate to the 1973 Louisiana Constitutional Convention, which drafted the state's current framework of government, as approved by voters in the spring of 1974.

In his last Senate term, Blair was also elected on a nonpartisan ballot as a delegate to the 1973 Louisiana Constitutional Convention, which drafted the state's current framework of government, as approved by voters in the spring of 1974.

==The election of 1971==

==Elections of 1971 and 1975==

In the 1971 closed [[primary]], the last held for Louisiana legislative races, Blair was forced into a second primary by [[Floyd Smith]], a Pineville City Councilman and former mayor. The third-placed candidate, [[Arnold Jack Rosenthal]], elected in 1973 as the last of Alexandria's finance and utilities commissioners, backed Smith in the runoff election, but Blair, defeated Smith by some two thousand votes. It was something of a Long v. anti-Long battle in that Smith was a native of Winnfield and his mother was a Long. There was no [[Republican Party|Republican]] opposition in the [[general election]] held on February 1, 1972; so Blair secured his fourth and final term in the new single-member Senate District 29.​

In the 1971 closed [[primary]], the last held for Louisiana legislative races, Blair was forced into a second primary by [[Floyd Smith]], a Pineville City Councilman and former mayor. The third-placed candidate, [[Arnold Jack Rosenthal]], elected in 1973 as the last of Alexandria's finance and utilities commissioners, backed Smith in the runoff election, but Blair, defeated Smith by some two thousand votes. It was something of a Long v. anti-Long battle in that Smith was a native of Winnfield and his mother was a Long. There was no [[Republican Party|Republican]] opposition in the [[general election]] held on February 1, 1972; so Blair secured his fourth and final term in the new single-member Senate District 29.​