Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu failed to win her fourth bid to keep her seat in the U.S. Senate representing Louisiana. With her loss in the final election in the Saturday runoff, the Republicans increased their control in the Senate with 54 seats.

Republican candidate Bill Cassidy defeated Landrieu by riding high on the anti-Obama sentiment among voters in Southern states, adding to nine seats for the 100-member Upper House which begins its term in January 2015.

Like Us on Facebook

Besides Landrieu who lost her seat in Louisiana, Democratic incumbent senators in North Carolina and Arkansas also lost to Republican rivals. Cassidy pointed out during the campaign that Landrieu - who belongs to a New Orleans political family - voted with the U.S. president 97 percent of the time. She has been criticized for backing Obama's health care overhaul and other Obama policies, reports the Daily Star.

While she has supported Obama, the national Democrats almost abandoned her and Landrieu had to fight her political battles, while Cassidy, who spent not so much time campaigning in the runoff elections, got 97 percent for every US$1 spent by outside group during the final month of the campaign.

Democrats downplayed the impact of Republican control of the South on the presidential campaign of the party's candidate for 2016. They cited the victory of former Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter in 1976 who won every Southern state, except two - Oklahoma and Virginia. Another example is Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton who won several Southern states in 1992 and 1996.

Ben Tulchin, Democratic strategist and pollster, added that results of the 2008 and 2012 elections are more proofs that "Democrats don't need the Deep South to win. Michael Czin, spokesman of the Democratic National Committee, said the 2016 national election is a "different math" from the 2014 midterm elections. He predicted voter turnout would be significantly higher in 2016, reports Fox News.

TagsUS midterm elections, Bill Cassidy, Mary Landrieu