The Louisiana 5th Congressional district special election has its first two Taxpayer Protection Pledge signers of the race: State Sen. Neil Riser and State Rep. Jay Morris. Rep. Rodney Alexander, who currently occupies the seat, recently announced his plans to resign from Congress on Sept. 26th to become Louisiana Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

The special election to fill the rest of his term is set for Oct. 19th. According to Politics1, there are a number of other announced candidates in the race and ATR is working hard to make sure they all have an opportunity to sign the Pledge.

Under Louisiana’s unique election system, candidates from all parties run on the same ballot in October. If no candidate obtains 50 percent or higher, the top two candidates face off against each other on Nov. 16th regardless of party.

With Rep. Alexander taking over 77% of the vote in 2012 and a PVI  at R+15, it’s very unlikely that Democrats make this a competitive race. In fact, The Cook Political Report (subscription needed) rates this race as SOLID R while the Rothenberg Political Report rates this seat as Safe Republican.

Click here to see the release for State Sen. Riser and here for State Rep. Morris.