Complex sentence: Fifty years later, that same scenario threatened David C. Treen, Louisiana's first Republican governor since Reconstruction; if Treen left the state, Democratic Lieutenant Governor Robert "Bobby" Freeman, a staunch partisan, would assume acting duties and attempt to thwart Treen.
Split into simpler sentences: Fifty years later, that same scenario threatened David C. Treen, Louisiana's first Republican governor since Reconstruction. If Treen left the state, Democratic Lieutenant Governor Robert "Bobby" Freeman, a staunch partisan, would assume acting duties and attempt to thwart Treen.