Ron Faucheux

Ronald Anthony Faucheux, Sr., known as Ron Faucheux (born July 1950), is a lawyer, scholar, non-fiction author, and political consultant and pundit who served from 1976 to 1984 as a Democrat in the Louisiana House of Representatives for District 100. in the since Hurricane Katrina-devastated New Orleans East neighborhood of Orleans Parish.

Faucheux holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He received his Juris Doctorate from Louisiana State University Law Center in Baton Rouge and his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of New Orleans. Just out of Georgetown in 1972, he managed John Breaux's first successful campaign for the United States House of Representatives for Louisiana's 7th congressional district, since disbanded. Breaux was elected in 1986 to the United States Senate and served in that capacity until 2005, when he was succeeded by the Republican David Vitter.

Faucheux and his former wife, the former Sally Amiss (born October 1957) have two sons, Ronald, Jr. (born November 1982), and Jonathan A. Faucheux (born July 1984). Sally is now married to the horse breeder Louie J. Roussel, III, of New Orleans, son of the late business tycoon Louis J. Roussel, Jr. Ron Faucheux, Jr., is also a horse breeder.

As a young state representative, Faucheux in 1977 was the unsuccessful Democratic nominee in the special election for Louisiana's 1st congressional district for the seat vacated by Democrat Richard Alvin Tonry. Victory instead went to the Republican candidate, Bob Livingston, who polled 56,121 votes (51.2 percent) to Faucheux's 40,862 (37.3 percent), and 12,665 (11.5 percent) for the Independent candidate, Sanford Krasnoff's 12,665 (11.5 percent) Livingston held the seat with ease until his own resignation in 1999, when he too was succeeded by David Vitter, since a candidate for governor of Louisiana in 2015.

In March 1982, Faucheux was the unsuccessful runoff opponent to New Orleans Mayor Ernest Nathan Morial. In that contest, Faucheux carried the backing of Morial's predecessor, Moon Landrieu. Faucheux and another challenger, William J. Jefferson, later the long-term representative for Louisiana's 2nd congressional district, based about New Orleans, made Morial himself their main campaign issue. Faucheux claimed that under Morial the New Orleans Police Department had deteriorated and crime had sharply risen. He questioned Morial's poor relations with both the New Orleans City Council and the state legislature. Jefferson accused his fellow African American, Morial of having neglected the black community and allowed the continuation of what he termed police brutality. Both challengers claimed that Morial's sharp personality undermined his municipal leadership. Morial emphasized the economic growth that had occurred during his first term in office and cited the development of new structures in the central business district, the construction of the New Orleans Convention Center, and industrial development in Faucheux's own New Orleans East. He claimed to have streamlined city government. He was backed by the political organizations, Black Organization for Leadership Development and the Old Regulars. Faucheux stressed his anti-crime credentials during his legislative service. He vowed to work to transfer sales tax revenues from the state to the city. He carried the backing of the Alliance for Good Government. With Jefferson eliminated in the nonpartisan blanket primary, Faucheux lost the second round of balloting to Morial, 100,703 (53.2 percent) to 88,583 (46.8 percent).

After his legislative career ended in 1984, Faucheux became involved in political punditry and for a time was the editor and publisher in Washington, D.C., of Campaigns and Elections, a magazine founded in 1980 by Stanley Foster Reed. He has also been the head of government affairs for the American Institute of Architects, the Louisiana Secretary of Commerce, and a chief of staff, beginning in January 2006, to Democrat former U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu, the daughter of Moon Landrieu, who served the second half of her tenure alongside her partisan rival David Vitter. Faucheux has been a campaign strategist and media consultant for 116 campaigns in 11 states. As publisher of The Political Oddsmaker, Faucheux correctly predicted the winners in 98 percent of national political campaigns between 1995 and 2005. He teaches at George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management and Georgetown University's Public Policy Institute. He is president of the Clarus Research Group in Washington.

He is the author of Running for Office: The Strategies, Techniques and Messages Modern Political Candidates Need to Win Elections, Winning Elections: Political Campaign Management, Strategy & Tactics, and The Debate Book: Standards and Guidelines for Sponsoring Political Debates. He has written two chapters of books by Johnson Routledge: "Running for Office: The Candidate’s Job Gets Tougher, More Complex" and "Why Clinton Lost" in Routledge Handbook on Political Management (2008) and Campaigning for President, 2008 (2009), respectively. Faucheux has appeared more than 350 times on national television and was formerly the anchor of his own cable television program. His network appearances have included The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, NBC's The Today Show, and ABC's Nightline and Good Morning America.

Faucheux is listed in 2015 by the office of Louisiana Secretary of State Tom Schedler as an Independent voter in the 4th Ward of New Orleans.