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/* 1976 congressional campaign */
Spooner was the first Republican in seventy-six years even to contest the 5th district seat. The previous GOP candidate, Henry Ernest Hardtner (1870-1935) of LaSalle Parish, had polled a mere 628 votes (9.2 percent) in 1900 against the Democrat Joseph Eugene Ransdell (1858-1954) of Lake Providence in East Carroll Parish, who was elected with 6,172 votes (90.8 percent). Hardtner later became a Democrat and served in the Louisiana House of Representatives.<ref>Anna C. Burns, "Henry E. Hardtner (1870–1935): Louisiana's First Conservationist," ''Journal of Forest History'' Vol. 22 No. 2 (April 1978)</ref> Ransdell thereafter served in the [[United States Senate]] until he was unseated in the 1930 primary election by [[Governor]] [[Huey Long|Huey Pierce Long, Jr.]]<ref>''Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections'', 1900–1976, U.S. House races from Louisiana.</ref>
In preparation for his race and when he expected to face Passman, Spooner attended a Republican candidate training school in [[Washington, D.C.]] The [[Republican National Committee]] sent John Bruce Hildebrand, former editor of the party's ''First Monday'' newsletter who had written speeches for vice-presidential candidate [[Bob Dole]], to work on Spooner's behalf. Jennie Carroll Casey, a reporter at the time for ''The Monroe News-Star'', worked as an unpaid public relations specialist.<ref>''Louisiana History,'', pp. 348–349.</ref>
Top-name Republicans, including former Governors [[Ronald W. Reagan]] of California and [[John Connally|John B. Connally, Jr.]], of Texas, later rivals for the party's presidential nomination in 1980, came into the sprawling district, with a large agricultural component, to urge voters to elect Spooner. Connally lashed out at the increased power of the House Democratic Caucus, which he maintained had undermined the influence of the more moderate party members, such as then U.S. Senator [[Russell Long]] of Louisiana.<ref>''The Alexandria Town Talk''', October 26, 1976.</ref> Connally did not know Spooner, but he had known Mrs. Spooner, the former Mary Flippo, when she was a child in the Connally neighborhood in [[Fort Worth]] in the 1950s. Reagan and Connally gave the race a high profile and helped to provide critical financial support for Spooner<ref>''Louisiana History'', p. 348.</ref>
Reagan appeared in Monroe and Connally in West Monroe and [[Natchitoches, Louisiana|Natchitoches]], the oldest city in the state. Huckaby, who like Spooner was a political newcomer, nevertheless developed effective television advertising critical of out-of-state politicians trying to influence voters in an otherwise unnoticed Louisiana district.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/?spot=22703104|title=At Monroe Motel, Reagan Views Debate|author=Kathy Spurlock|date=September 24, 1976|work=''The Monroe News-Star''|access-date=August 12, 2018|author-link2=Photographer Jack Dietle}}
</ref><ref>''Louisiana History,'', p. 348.</ref>
Spooner hoped to poll convincing majorities in urban areas of the district to offset expected losses in rural regions, where voting Republican was still comparatively rare at the time except for the presidential level on occasion. He aimed particularly at winning in his own Monroe and West Monroe as well as Natchitoches, [[Ruston, Louisiana|Ruston]], Bastrop, and Winnfield. The [[general election]] turnout was more than double that of the Passman-Huckaby race because, while Huckaby and Spooner sought the House seat, in the same November 2 election, [[Jimmy Carter]] and the unelected incumbent, [[Gerald Ford]], were the nominees for U.S. President.<ref>''Louisiana History'', p. 349.</ref>
After his primary defeat, Passman "threatened" to endorse Spooner in the general election but never did so. Passman had run mostly without opposition after his initial primary victory in 1946, when he had unseated Charles Edgar McKenzie (1896-1956). He was unopposed in his last successful general election on November 5, 1974. Passman was particularly known as a critic of foreign aid and a supporter of farm subsidies and the recently concluded Vietnam War.<ref>''Louisiana History,'', pp. 334, 337, 343.</ref>
Carter's statewide victory in Louisiana (and in nine other former [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] states) worked to Huckaby's advantage. Huckaby received 83,696 votes (52.5 percent); Spooner, 75,574 ballots (47.5 percent). Spooner surpassed Passman's primary showing by 35,000 votes, which translated only into a 0.2 percent gain over Passman's primary share of the vote because of the much larger turnout in the general election. Spooner polled 59 percent in Ouachita Parish and also won in the parishes of Lincoln (Ruston), Morehouse (Bastrop), Union (Farmerville), and Richland (Rayville), but his strength was insufficient to overcome large Democratic margins stretching from Huckaby's Bienville Parish on the west to Madison Parish (Tallulah) on the northeast, Concordia (Vidalia) on the southeast, and the most northern precincts of Rapides Parish ([[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]]) on the south. Spooner received just 27 percent in Bienville Parish and less than 40 percent in Madison and Winn parishes, the latter the ancestral home of the [[Huey Long|Long]] political faction.<ref>Office of the Louisiana Secretary of State, Congressional Election Returns, 1976</ref><ref>''Louisiana History'', p. 349.</ref>
