Mary Landrieu Faces Uphill Battle in Runoff Election

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana voters are deciding the political fate of Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu, who is struggling to win a fourth term against a wave of GOP gains across Southern states.

Saturday's runoff is the last election of the 2014 midterms.

Republican Rep. Bill Cassidy is the front-runner. If Cassidy is successful, his win would push the GOP's new Senate majority to 54 seats in January and cost Democrats their last Senate seat in the Deep South.

Landrieu fought to make the election a referendum on her own performance rather than on President Barack Obama. But Cassidy portrayed his candidacy as a way for voters to cast another ballot against the policies of the president, who is highly unpopular in Louisiana.