Landrieu, Cassidy miss votes to campaign

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) have been absent this week from Capitol Hill as the two battle for a Senate seat in Saturday’s runoff election.

{mosads}Landrieu has trailed Cassidy ahead of the Dec. 6 runoff that will determine if she keeps her Senate seat. Neither candidate won 50 percent of the vote in the midterm elections, prompting the runoff.

Cassidy missed votes on Monday and Tuesday but attended all House votes on Wednesday. His campaign said he wouldn’t appear at rallies this week with Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus and former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) due to votes.

The two lawmakers had a debate Monday evening causing both to miss votes.

The Senate has spent the week voting on the confirmation of judicial and executive nominations. 

The House has cleared legislation to block Nazis from collecting Social Security benefits and on Wednesday passed a tax extender package to prevent tax hikes. House Republicans will also vote Thursday on a symbolic bill to nullify President Obama’s executive action to delay deportations for up to five million undocumented immigrants.

– Cristina Marcos contributed to this report, which was updated at 8:11 p.m.