did not field a candidate against Ellender that year. Ellender cultivated good relationships with the media, whose coverage of his tenure helped him to fend off serious competition. One of his newspaper favorites was Adras LaBorde, longtime managing editor of Alexandria Daily Town Talk. The two "Cajuns" shared fish stories on many occasions. Last campaign, death, and aftermath In 1972, the Democratic gubernatorial runner-up from December 1971, former state senator J. Bennett Johnston, Jr., of Shreveport, challenged Ellender for renomination. Ellender was expected to defeat Johnston, but he died from a heart attack on July 27, aged 81, at Bethesda Naval Hospital. Nearly 10 percent of Democratic voters, however, still voted for the deceased Ellender. Johnston became the Democratic nominee in a manner somewhat reminiscent of how Ellender had won the Senate seat in 1936 after the death of Governor Oscar K. Allen. Johnston easily defeated the Republican candidate, Ben C. Toledano, a prominent attorney from New Orleans who later became a conservative columnist, and former Governor John McKeithen, a Democrat running as an Independent in the general election because he had not been able to qualify for the primary ballot, given the timing of Ellender's death. The Ellender family endorsed McKeithen in the 1972 general election because of resentment over Johnston's entry into the race against Ellender. Ellender's immediate successor was not Johnston but Elaine S. Edwards, first wife of Governor Edwin Edwards, who was appointed to fill his seat from August 1, 1972, to November 13, 1972. Six days after the election, Johnston was appointed to finish Ellender's remaining term to gain a seniority advantage over other freshman senators. Legacy In the Senate, Ellender was known by his colleagues for Cajun cooking, including dishes ranging from roast duck to shrimp jambalaya. As of 2009, the Senate dining room still served "Ellender Gumbo." Ellender Memorial High School in Houma and Allen Ellender School in Marrero are named in his honor. In 1994, Ellender was inducted posthumously into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield. The Allen J. Ellender Memorial Library on the campus of Nicholls State University in Thibodaux is named after him. See also List of United States Congress members who died in office (1950–99) References Further reading Becnel, Thomas. Senator Allen Ellender of Louisiana: a biography (1996), the standard scholarly biography online Finley, Keith M. Delaying the Dream: Southern Senators and the Fight Against