RSS Feed

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards' quest for a second term as the Deep South's only Democratic governor will stretch over another month, as voters in his crimson state denied him a primary win Saturday and sent him to a runoff election.

The Democratic incumbent was unable to top 50% of the vote in the six-candidate field, raising questions about his reelection chances against a national Republican offensive that includes President Donald Trump. Trump made a last-minute appeal to Louisiana's voters to reject Edwards.

Edwards will compete in the Nov. 16 runoff against businessman Eddie Rispone, a Baton Rouge businessman and longtime GOP political donor making his first bid for public office.

Rispone largely self-financed his campaign, reaching the second place spot after outspending fellow Republican contender U.S. Rep. Ralph Abraham 5-to-1.

Three Republican statewide elected officials on the ballot won reelection to new four-year terms: Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser, Attorney General Jeff Landry and Treasurer John Schroder. Three other GOP incumbents also were seeking to hold on to their jobs, and voters were deciding four proposed constitutional changes.

Republicans sought to prove that Edwards' longshot victory in 2015 was a fluke, aided by a flawed GOP opponent, David Vitter, who was hobbled by a prostitution scandal and attacks on his moral character from fellow Republicans in the primary.

Democrats want an Edwards reelection win to show they can compete even in a ruby red state that Trump won by 20 points.

But the 53-year-old Edwards isn't exactly a Democrat in the national mold.

The West Point graduate and former Army Ranger opposes abortion and gun restrictions, talks of working well with the Trump administration and calls the U.S. House Democrats' impeachment inquiry a distraction to governing in Washington. He signed one of the nation's strictest abortion bans.

Throughout his campaign, Edwards sought to make the election a referendum on his performance rather than a commentary on Louisiana views on national politics.

The Democratic incumbent contrasted three recent years of budget surpluses with the deficit-riddled terms of his predecessor, Republican Bobby Jindal. Edwards and the majority-GOP state Legislature passed a tax deal that stabilized state finances and allowed for new investments in public colleges and the first statewide teacher raise in a decade.

"When I took office, the state of Louisiana had the largest budget deficit in our history," Edwards said. "We did the hard, bipartisan work necessary to right the ship, to strengthen our economy."

Edwards expanded Louisiana's Medicaid program, adding nearly a half-million new people to government-financed health care and lowering the state's uninsured rate below the national average. A bipartisan criminal sentencing law rewrite he championed ended Louisiana's tenure as the nation's top jailer.

Josh Jansen, voting at Warren Easton High School in New Orleans with his wife and son, cast his ballot for Edwards.

"I just think he's done a good job. He's a good mix of Republican and Democrat," Jansen said. He said he appreciated Edwards' working across the aisle, which he said is uncommon in U.S. politics these days.

Barbara Bacot, a retired state employee, also voted for Edwards.

"He has done a very good job in the teeth of opposition from people who should know better. You can't lower taxes and run a good state," she said at her Baton Rouge polling place.

Republicans panned the governor's performance, saying Edwards raised taxes too high, stifling economic development and chasing people from Louisiana.

"It's not a surplus. He overtaxed you. It's your money," Abraham said. "We are taxed, taxed, taxed to death."

The GOP contenders said the Medicaid expansion was rife with abuse, wasting millions of taxpayer dollars. They sought to nationalize the race, tying Edwards to national Democratic leaders, while Abraham and Rispone bickered over which one had tighter ties to Trump.

Abraham, 65, a third-term congressman from rural Richland Parish in northeast Louisiana, touted his background as a doctor. He pledged tax cuts while promising new spending on early childhood education, roads and public safety. He didn't explain how he would balance the budget with less revenue.

Marie Cavin, an antiques dealer, voted for Abraham, saying she chose him because he was a Republican and she heard good things about him from her co-workers. She didn't necessarily object to Edwards' performance, but she described herself as a Trump supporter who didn't feel comfortable supporting a Democrat.

"I don't really like what's going on with the Democrats nationally," Cavin said. "I just felt like I wanted to get a Republican in there."

Rispone, 70, founder of a Baton Rouge industrial contracting company, is a long-time GOP political donor running for his first elected office. He largely self-financed his campaign, pouring $11 million in the race. He presented himself in the mold of Trump, describing himself as a conservative outsider who would upend the traditional political system of Baton Rouge.

"We need a CEO, someone with serious business experience," Rispone told supporters. "Both sides of the aisle have failed you. It's time to do something different."

Voter Barbie Edwards said she supported Rispone when she cast her early vote in the New Orleans area.

"He's a good businessman. He'd be a good businessman for the state like Trump is for the country," she said.

Neither GOP candidate was among the top-tier contenders Republicans had hoped would get in the race. But other, more well-known possibilities passed. With Republicans unable to rally behind one clear choice, they worried that fighting between Abraham and Rispone risked helping Edwards to victory.

In the final week of the campaign, GOP groups reminded voters of Edwards' former deputy chief of staff, Johnny Anderson, who resigned in 2017 amid allegations of sexual harassment. Anderson's accuser was prominently featured in one ad, noting that Edwards hired Anderson even though Anderson had previously been accused of sexual misconduct..

OTHER STATEWIDE SEATS
Five Republican incumbents won reelection to their statewide positions: Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser, Attorney General Jeff Landry, Treasurer John Schroder, Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon and Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain. GOP Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin was forced into a runoff.
Donelon faced the fiercest competition, an intraparty challenge from Tim Temple, who's worked in the insurance industry for 20 years and put $1.8 million of his own money into the race. But Donelon, in office since 2006, secured a fourth term as commissioner.
Few other opponents to the GOP incumbents had done significant fundraising.
Nungesser easily gained a second term, defeating Willie Jones, a New Orleans Democrat. Landry, also in his first term, bested Ike Jackson Jr., a Democrat from Plaquemine and lawyer who once worked in the attorney general's office.
Schroder, a former state lawmaker who won his position in a 2017 special election, overcame two opponents, including New Orleans area lawyer Derrick Edwards, who unsuccessfully challenged Schroder two years ago.
Strain, a veterinarian in office since 2008, won outright against four people vying to unseat him, including Charlie Greer, a Natchitoches Parish farmer and Democrat who ran unsuccessfully in 2015. Strain's other challengers also were farmers: New Orleans vegetable and flower farmer Marguerite Green and Lettsworth tree farmer Peter Williams are Democrats, while rice and crawfish farmer Bradley Zaunbrecher from Egan is a Republican.
But Ardoin, who worked as a top deputy in the secretary of state's office before winning the job in last year's special election, will face a rematch in November against Gwen Collins-Greenup. The Democrat from Clinton, who has worked in notary and real estate businesses, lost to Ardoin in the 2018 runoff.

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Voters are deciding four proposals to change the Louisiana Constitution.
Amendment 1 would create a property tax exemption for certain raw materials and other maintenance items headed for oil and gas drilling work in the Gulf of Mexico's Outer Continental Shelf.
Amendment 2 would broaden how money from a state education fund can be used, allowing spending on three additional schools and educational programming from Louisiana Public Broadcasting.
Amendment 3 would widen the authority of the state tax appeals board to let the appointed board members determine whether certain tax and fee measures are constitutional, without a taxpayer having to go to court to settle a tax dispute. The Board of Tax Appeals decision could be appealed to the courts, or a taxpayer could still take a disagreement directly to court instead.
Amendment 4 would let the city of New Orleans exempt properties with up to 15 residential units from property taxes, as an incentive to create affordable housing.

LOUISIANA SUPREME COURT
Voters in the New Orleans area will choose a new associate Supreme Court justice to fill a seat left vacant when former Justice Greg Guidry was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to a lifetime federal judgeship.
Only Republicans signed up for the race: Will Crain, a state appeals court judge from Madisonville; Richard Ducote, an attorney from Covington; Hans Liljeberg, a state appeals court judge from Metairie; and Scott Schlegel, a Jefferson Parish district court judge.

Governor

3934 of 3934 precincts reporting - 100%
absentee reporting - 100% Votes
317,115 Ralph Abraham (REP) 24%
10,993 Oscar "Omar" Dantzler (DEM) 1%
626,000 John Bel Edwards (DEM) 47%
10,086 Gary Landrieu (IND) 1%
10,966 Patrick "Live Wire" Landry (REP) 1%
368,318 "Eddie" Rispone (REP) 27%
Total: 1,343,478
Unofficial Turnout: 45.3%

Lieutenant Governor

3934 of 3934 precincts reporting - 100%
absentee reporting - 100% Votes
413,567 Willie Jones (DEM) 32%
884,294 William "Billy" Nungesser (REP) 68%
Total: 1,297,861
Unofficial Turnout: 43.8%

Secretary of State

3934 of 3934 precincts reporting - 100%
absentee reporting - 100% Votes
528,273 Kyle Ardoin (REP) 41%
434,609 "Gwen" Collins-Greenup (DEM) 34%
244,622 Thomas J. Kennedy III (REP) 19%
78,968 Amanda "Jennings" Smith (REP) 6%
Total: 1,286,472
Unofficial Turnout: 43.4%

Attorney General

3934 of 3934 precincts reporting - 100%
absentee reporting - 100% Votes
436,531 "Ike" Jackson, Jr. (DEM) 34%
855,338 "Jeff" Landry (REP) 66%
Total: 1,291,869
Unofficial Turnout: 43.6%
Treasurer

3934 of 3934 precincts reporting - 100%
absentee reporting - 100% Votes
442,753 Derrick Edwards (DEM) 35%
69,910 Teresa Kenny (NOPTY) 5%
769,443 John M. Schroder (REP) 60%
Total: 1,282,106
Unofficial Turnout: 43.3%

Commissioner of -- Agriculture and Forestry

3934 of 3934 precincts reporting - 100%
absentee reporting - 100% Votes
259,729 Marguerite Green (DEM) 20%
106,892 "Charlie" Greer (DEM) 8%
724,709 Michael G. "Mike" Strain (REP) 57%
79,632 Peter Williams (DEM) 6%
105,705 Bradley Zaunbrecher (REP) 8%
Total: 1,276,667
Unofficial Turnout: 43.1%

Commissioner of -- Insurance

3934 of 3934 precincts reporting - 100%
absentee reporting - 100% Votes
631,721 James J. "Jim" Donelon (REP) 53%
549,140 "Tim" Temple (REP) 47%
Total: 1,180,861
Unofficial Turnout: 39.9%

CA NO. 1 (ACT 444 - HB 234) -- Tax Exemptions for Outer Continental Shelf

3934 of 3934 precincts reporting - 100%
absentee reporting - 100% Votes
575,542 YES 47%
642,507 NO 53%
Total: 1,218,049
Unofficial Turnout: 41.1%

CA NO. 2 (ACT 445 - HB 62) -- Amend Education Excellence Fund

3934 of 3934 precincts reporting - 100%
absentee reporting - 100% Votes
612,253 YES 50%
602,748 NO 50%
Total: 1,215,001
Unofficial Turnout: 41.0%

CA NO. 3 (ACT 446 - HB 428) -- Remedy for Unconstitutional Tax Paid

3934 of 3934 precincts reporting - 100%
absentee reporting - 100% Votes
700,227 YES 58%
509,521 NO 42%
Total: 1,209,748
Unofficial Turnout: 40.8%

CA NO. 4 (ACT 448 - SB 79) -- Allow New Orleans Property Tax Exemptions

3934 of 3934 precincts reporting - 100%
absentee reporting - 100% Votes
443,007 YES 37%
770,386 NO 63%
Total: 1,213,393
Unofficial Turnout: 41.0%