Changes

In 1995, McPherson did not seek a fourth term in the Senate but instead challenged state Representative [[Dale Sittig]] of Eunice for the  District 4 seat on the Public Service Commission. Sittig polled 141,473 votes (52.8 percent) to McPherson's 126,452 (47.2 percent). Sittig cemented his margin with comfortable wins in his own St. Landry Parish as well as  Evangeline, Acadia, and Calcasieu parshes. Surprisingly, McPherson won his own Rapides Parish by fewer than two thousand votes.<ref>Primary election returns". Louisiana Secretary of State. October 19, 1995. Retrieved June 25, 2017</ref>

In 1995, McPherson did not seek a fourth term in the Senate but instead challenged state Representative [[Dale Sittig]] of Eunice for the  District 4 seat on the Public Service Commission. Sittig polled 141,473 votes (52.8 percent) to McPherson's 126,452 (47.2 percent). Sittig cemented his margin with comfortable wins in his own St. Landry Parish as well as  Evangeline, Acadia, and Calcasieu parshes. Surprisingly, McPherson won his own Rapides Parish by fewer than two thousand votes.<ref>Primary election returns". Louisiana Secretary of State. October 19, 1995. Retrieved June 25, 2017</ref>

   

   

Thirteen years later, Sittig resigned on September 15, 2008, from the PSC to accept the appointment from Governor [[Bobby Jindal]]  to the Louisiana Offshore Terminal Authority. McPherson then entered the special election for the PSC seat that Sittig had vacated. His rivals were Republican Clyde Holloway, whom he had opposed for Congress in 1990, and the Democrat-turned-Republican former State Representative Gil Pinac. Though he had predicted a solid victory on his website and trailed Holloway in the first round of balloting by only 648 raw votes (less than 1 percent), primarily because of a strong showing in [[Lake Charles]],<ref>"Election returns". Louisiana Secretary of State. April 4, 2009. Retrieved June 25, 2017</ref> McPherson withdrew from the runoff election. Holloway thus claimed the PSC seat, his first elected position since 1993, when he left Congress.<ref>"Senator drops out of runoff for PSC", ''New Orleans Times-Picayune,'' April 14, 2009, p. B2</ref> In the meantime, Holloway lost attempts to return to the U.S. House in 1994, 1996, and 2002, and to be elected lieutenant governor in 2003 on an ill-fated ticket with former PSC member James A. "Jay" Blossman, who had left the commission by the time Holloway won the former Sittig seat.

Thirteen years later, Sittig resigned on September 15, 2008, from the PSC to accept the appointment from Governor [[Bobby Jindal]]  to the Louisiana Offshore Terminal Authority. McPherson then entered the special election for the PSC seat that Sittig had vacated. His rivals were Republican Clyde Holloway, whom he had opposed for Congress in 1990, and the Democrat-turned-Republican former State Representative [[Gil Pinac]] of Crowley. Though he had predicted a solid victory on his website and trailed Holloway in the first round of balloting by only 648 raw votes (less than 1 percent), primarily because of a strong showing in [[Lake Charles]],<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, April 4, 2009.</ref> McPherson withdrew from the runoff election. Holloway thus claimed the PSC seat, his first elected position since 1993, when he left Congress.<ref>"Senator drops out of runoff for PSC", ''New Orleans Times-Picayune,'' April 14, 2009, p. B2</ref> In the meantime, Holloway lost attempts to return to the U.S. House in 1994, 1996, and 2002, and to be elected lieutenant governor in 2003 on an ill-fated ticket with former PSC member James A. "Jay" Blossman, who had left the commission by the time Holloway won the former Sittig seat.

==Senatorial voting record==

==Senatorial voting record==