The top two candidates in Louisiana’s 3rd District will head to a runoff election on Dec. 10, as no candidate crossed the 50 percent threshold in the election results.

Scott Angelle and Clay Higgins, both Republicans, will finish 1-2 in Tuesday’s primary. Angelle led Higgins 29 percent to 26 percent with 74 percent of precincts reporting.

Under Louisiana election rules, the top two vote-getters advance to the runoff, regardless of party, ensuring the seat will stay in GOP hands.

Incumbent GOP Rep. Charles Boustany Jr. vacated the seat to run for the Senate.

The 3rd District includes southern Louisiana and stretches from the Texas border to the center of the state.

Coming into Election Day, the race was rated Safe Republican by the Rothenberg & Gonzales Political Report/Roll Call. 

In 2015, Angelle finished second in Louisiana’s gubernatorial primary, just 4 points behind GOP Sen. David Vitter, who then lost the general election to Democrat John Bel Edwards.

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As a Democrat turned Republican, Angelle brings nearly 30 years of experience in public life to Congress. 

He has worked as the chairman of the State Mineral and Energy Board in 2004, and served as interim lieutenant governor in 2010. 

He campaigned as an anti-abortion rights advocate, gun rights supporter, and has ties to the oil industry beyond Louisiana. Since 2012, he’s been a board member for the Pennsylvania-based Sunoco Logistics Partners LP.

Higgins, also known as “Cajun John Wayne,” became famous after making a series of gruff Crime Stoppers videos calling for criminals to turn themselves in to police. He is a former police captain and public information officer in the sheriff’s department of St. Landry Parish.