Changes

​On April 4, 2009, Claitor defeated fellow Republican Lee Domingue, a Baton Rouge businessman backed by then [[Governor]] [[Bobby Jindal]], in a [[special election]] for the District 16  seat vacated by Republican [[U.S. Representative]] [[Bill Cassidy]]. Claitor received 11,713 votes (66 percent) to Domingue's 6,114 (34 percent).<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, April 4, 2009.</ref> Prior to Cassidy's short tenure, the Senate seat was held by former Louisiana Secretary of State and lieutenant governor, John Leigh "Jay" Dardenne, Jr., a [[Moderate Republican]] and commissioner of administration under Democratic Governor [[John Bel Edwards]].

​On April 4, 2009, Claitor defeated fellow Republican Lee Domingue, a Baton Rouge businessman backed by then [[Governor]] [[Bobby Jindal]], in a [[special election]] for the District 16  seat vacated by Republican [[U.S. Representative]] [[Bill Cassidy]]. Claitor received 11,713 votes (66 percent) to Domingue's 6,114 (34 percent).<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, April 4, 2009.</ref> Prior to Cassidy's short tenure, the Senate seat was held by former Louisiana Secretary of State and lieutenant governor, John Leigh "Jay" Dardenne, Jr., a [[Moderate Republican]] and commissioner of administration under Democratic Governor [[John Bel Edwards]].

In the first round of special election balloting (not an actual primary but sometimes referred to as such by the media) held on March 7, 2009, a third candidate, Republican health-care consultant Laurinda Lege Calongne (born ca. 1964), polled 4,511 votes (27 percent) to Claitor's 6,509 votes (39 percent) and Domingue's 5,760 votes (34 percent), according to official returns from all 103 precincts.<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, March 7, 2009.</ref> Colongne then threw her backing to Claitor.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.politicker.com/louisiana/tags/dan-claitor|author=Marsha Shuler|title=Calongne endorses Claitor in runoffpublisher=''The Baton Rouge Advocate''|accessdate=April 18, 2009}}</ref> Despite heavy spending, much of it from his own sources, Domingue scored no inroads in the second race. His campaign had spent $429,709, or nearly three-fourths of its funds, as of March 15, the last day that spending had to be reported to the office of the Louisiana secretary of state. Claitor spent $154,825.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/42484362.html?index=1&c=y|author=Marsha Shuler|title=It's Claitor!: Dominigue gains only 34 percent of the votepublisher=''The Baton Rouge Advocate''|accessdate=April 18, 2009}}</ref>​

In the first round of special election balloting (not an actual primary but sometimes referred to as such by the media) held on March 7, 2009, a third candidate, Republican health-care consultant Laurinda Lege Calongne (born ca. 1964), polled 4,511 votes (27 percent) to Claitor's 6,509 votes (39 percent) and Domingue's 5,760 votes (34 percent), according to official returns from all 103 precincts.<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, March 7, 2009.</ref> Colongne then threw her backing to Claitor.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.politicker.com/louisiana/tags/dan-claitor|author=Marsha Shuler|title=Calongne endorses Claitor in runoff|publisher=''The Baton Rouge Advocate''|accessdate=April 18, 2009; no longer on-line}}</ref> Despite heavy spending, much of it from his own sources, Domingue scored no inroads in the second race. His campaign had spent $429,709, or nearly three-fourths of its funds, as of March 15, the last day that spending had to be reported to the office of the Louisiana secretary of state. Claitor spent $154,825.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/42484362.html?index=1&c=y|author=Marsha Shuler|title=It's Claitor!: Dominigue gains only 34 percent of the votepublisher=''The Baton Rouge Advocate''|accessdate=April 18, 2009}}</ref>​

One of the issues in the campaign centered on Dominigue's having missed casting his ballot in nine of the last twenty elections in East Baton Rouge Parish, whereas Claitor had voted in all of the past thirty such contests.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/40602957.html|title=A Look at the Candidates' Voting Record|publisher=''The Baton Rouge Morning Advocate''|accessdate=April 18, 2009}}</ref>

One of the issues in the campaign centered on Dominigue's having missed casting his ballot in nine of the last twenty elections in East Baton Rouge Parish, whereas Claitor had voted in all of the past thirty such contests.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/40602957.html|title=A Look at the Candidates' Voting Record|publisher=''The Baton Rouge Morning Advocate''|accessdate=April 18, 2009}}</ref>