The reinstatement of the elected senate presidency and the installation of a new constitution brought with it something Louisiana had not seen since the 1850s: a two-party system. Also new to the presidency the practicing of appointing of the president by the Governor. This practice had been applied to the state House Speakership for years. The first elected Senate President under the new constitution was Michael H. O'Keefe Sr., an ally of Edwin Edwards, who was elected to his second term as governor in 1975. In 1980 something that had not happened since the Reconstruction became a reality; a Republican governor was in office. David Treen was elected in 1979, and with him came more Republican legislators, although only an enlarged minority. O'Keefe retained the senate presidency under Treen until he was forced to resign the presidency after convictions in federal court.