(CNN) — CNN projects that Republican challenger Bill Cassidy will beat out incumbent Democratic House member Don Cazayoux in Louisiana.

CNN projections are based on actual vote results and exit poll data from key areas.

Sen. McCain toured the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans with his wife, Cindy, in April of this year.

(CNN) — The lingering aftermath of Hurricane Katrina looms large over New Orleans residents this election season. CNN’s Voter Hotline has received several calls from New Orleans residents wondering where to vote, whether former evacuees are still registered, and how to vote absentee after being displaced.

Joseph Harris of New Orleans was confused about whether his temporary displacement after the storm would affect his registration.

“I was calling to make sure I was on the list. I want to make sure my information had been changed back now from Houston where I was evacuated during Katrina, and I just want to make sure I’m able to vote on November 4,” Harris asked on the Hotline.

According to the Louisiana Secretary of State, Katrina’s lingering impact doesn’t extend to the voter rolls. “There has been no purging because people were displaced by Katrina. Basically, they can vote if we have a good address,” said Jacques Berry from the Louisiana Secretary of State office. “If you live in a homeless shelter and have an address, you can register to vote in Louisiana.”

Katrina victims who were displaced and are still planning to vote in Louisiana should call the state’s toll free number, (800) 883-2805. The rules for those displaced by the storm are no different than other residents, Berry said. “There’s nothing specific to them.”

The Hotline has also gotten calls from New Orleans parish voters who haven’t received their absentee ballots. “There’s a good chance that all the absentee ballots are out now. We want all voters to have the opportunity to vote. I am sure all absentee ballots will be out with sufficient time,” Berry said. “We want all voters to have the opportunity to vote.”

If you are a resident in the state of Louisiana who has questions regarding your registration status or where you should go to vote, you can visit geauxvote.com or call 1 (800) 883-2805.

Don Cazayoux won a hard-fought race in Louisiana.

(CNN) — Democrats on Sunday cheered a weekend special election in Louisiana, where a Democratic congressional candidate won a seat that has been held by Republicans for decades.

State Rep. Don Cazayoux beat Republican Woody Jenkins in the state's 6th Congressional District by a 49-to-46 percent margin Saturday. Both parties viewed the race as a potential bellwether of November's congressional races, with the national GOP pouring more than $1 million into the contest in an attempt to tie Cazayoux to national Democrats such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and presidential candidate Barack Obama.

"Don Cazayoux's victory this evening proves once again that Americans across our country want real solutions and reject Republicans' negative attacks," Pelosi said in a written statement hailing the win.

National Democrats spent more than $1 million as well, airing television ads that questioned whether Jenkins — a newspaper publisher, former state legislator and well-known conservative activist — had paid all his taxes on time.

The contest was to replace U.S. Rep. Richard Baker, an 11-term Republican who resigned in February to become a lobbyist. The district, which includes capital city Baton Rouge and its surrounding parishes, has been held by the GOP since 1974.

Full story

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Voters in southeastern Louisiana chose party candidates Saturday for congressional races in two conservative-leaning districts, including a contest in which Democrats are mounting a strong challenge for a seat held by Republicans for 32 years.

Saturday's voting was in party runoff races in special elections. The winners and independent candidates face off in general elections May 3.

The Republican and Democratic front-runners won their respective races for the 6th Congressional District, setting the stage for a combative general election for a district that covers Baton Rouge and the surrounding Old South plantation country.

On the Republican side, Woody Jenkins, a 61-year-old community newspaper editor aligned with the Christian right, captured 62 percent of the vote to defeat lobbyist Laurinda Calongne.

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Sens. Clinton and Obama remain in a tight race for the Democratic nomination after Saturday's voting.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Sen. Barack Obama swept Saturday's Democratic contests, giving him considerable momentum heading into Sunday's Maine caucuses and three primaries Tuesday.

John McCain, however, was handed a starkly different message from the GOP, as voters in Louisiana and Kansas indicated they weren't ready to support the Arizona senator. Washington, however, backed the Republican front-runner over former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, according to state party officials.

McCain's camp congratulated Huckabee on the victories but with an air of confidence, saying that Huckabee threatened only to chip away at McCain's substantial lead in the GOP race for the presidential nomination.

"The reality is that John McCain is the presumptive nominee of our party," said campaign spokesman Brian Rogers. "We'll campaign in these upcoming states as long as Gov. Huckabee is in the race, but our main focus is on uniting the Republican Party for victory in November."

Though CNN calculations estimate that Huckabee would need to snare hundreds more delegates to catch McCain, the Democrats are in a much tighter race.

Full story

Track the Louisiana Democratic primary results county-by-county by clicking here: Louisiana.

Sen. Obama enjoyed a bowl of gumbo — with hot sauce– in New Orleans Thursday.

(CNN) — The more likely a Louisiana Democratic presidential primary voter was to have been affected by Hurricane Katrina, the more likely they were to support Democrat Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton.

Among the 15 percent of voters who had been affected by the storm and said they had yet to recover, Obama had a 58 to 39 percent edge over Clinton. The 28 percent of voters who had been affected, but had since recovered, supported Obama by a slightly smaller margin, 54 to 43 percent. And the 55 percent who had not been affected at all by Hurricane Katrina supported Obama by the narrowest margin, 51 to 48 percent.

–CNN Associate Political Editor Rebecca Sinderbrand

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Louisiana voters, like their counterparts in other primary states, are split on Bill Clinton’s effect on his wife’s campaign. In a CNN exit poll, 38 percent of Democratic primary voters said the former president helped Hillary Clinton’s White House bid, while 32 percent said he hurt her chances at winning the Democratic presidential nomination.

Of those who thought the former president had harmed his wife’s presidential campaign, 78 percent voted for her rival Barack Obama, and 19 percent backed Clinton. Among those who thought the former president had a positive impact on Hillary Clinton’s campaign, 60 percent voted for her, and 38 percent for Obama.

Twenty-nine percent of those polled said Bill Clinton had no effect on their vote one way or the other.

–CNN Associate Political Editor Rebecca Sinderbrand

(CNN) – Louisiana Republicans and Democrats agree that the economy is the most pressing concern this year, but break when asked to list other important issues facing the nation, according to CNN exit polls.

Louisiana held its Democratic and Republican primary on Saturday.

While 46 percent of Democrats cited the economy as the most important issue, 33 percent of Republicans ranked it at the top of their list. For Democrats, Iraq – which came in at 29 percent – was the second most important issue followed by healthcare at 23 percent. Meanwhile, illegal immigration and terrorism tied for the second most important issue on the minds of Republican voters at 21 percent, followed by Iraq at 20 percent.

– CNN Political Editor Mark Preston

Obama is hoping for a big win in Louisiana.

(CNN) — Barack Obama launched a new ad in Louisiana on Friday, just one day before the state’s Democratic primary.

The Obama campaign’s ad, titled ‘Future,’ pairs images of the Illinois senator and a devastated, post-Katrina New Orleans – gutted homes, an affected man with his child, a shirt that reads ‘Rebuild New Orleans’ – with audio of his inspirational ‘Yes, We Can’ speech.

Earlier this week, the Illinois senator's campaign included a spreadsheet in an e-mail to supporters in which they projected a double-digit win in Louisiana.

“This election is about the past versus the future,” Obama says . “Hard as it may seem, we cannot lose hope.

“There are people all across this great nation who are counting on us. Who cannot afford another four years without health care. They can’t afford another four years without good schools. They can’t afford another four years without decent wages.”

His campaign has also begun airing its Super Bowl spot, ‘Join’ in Wisconsin in advance of the state’s February 19 primary.

On Friday, on a conference call reporting a massive new fundraising haul, Hillary Clinton’s campaign announced that they were airing ads targeting voters in the Potomac primaries, which head to the polls next Tuesday, February 12.

Obama has been running spots in those states since the days before the February 5 Super Tuesday contests.

Clinton also has begun airing a long-running healthcare spot in Washington State, with the addition of endorsements from the state’s two Democratic senators.

Clinton and Obama will go head-to-head in eight Democratic contests in the next four days.

–CNN's Jeff Simon