Last month, an already bitter race became further charged after the journalist Jason Berry published an interview with Wendy Ellis, a former escort who claimed she and Mr Vitter had a lengthy affair and that she gave birth to his child, despite Mr Vitter urging her to get an abortion. A debate revealed the depth of the hostility between the two men, as Edwards called Vitter a liar and a cheater to his face. Edwards won by 12 percentage points after being ahead by 4 points in the final statewide poll released Friday.
Advertisement
Louisiana’s senior senator was damaged by his 2007 prostitution scandal, Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal’s plummeting popularity and a hostile relationship with his Republican competitors.
We at NPI extend our congratulations to John Bel Edwards on his unbelievable victory in this gubernatorial runoff, and wish him the best as he prepares to take office as Louisiana’s new chief executive. Vitter was thought to be that Republican, given his overwhelming fundraising advantage, unquestioned conservative reputation and proven skill at crushing challengers. It is questionable whether this election holds any lessons for Democrats in other states in the South, where Republicans hold every governor’s office except those in Virginia and Kentucky. Vitter’s Senate seat is likely to remain in Republican hands.
Mr Jindal also struggled to muster even 1 per cent support in national polls during his run for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, which he terminated last week.
The focus on refugees was an attempt by Vitter to connect with voter concerns about immigration and terrorism while giving Republicans offended by his personal behavior a reason to vote for him, Pearson Cross, a political science professor at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, said before the vote.
While some Democrats will be anxious to spin the race as an omen for 2016, it’s as much an Edwards victory as a repudiation of Vitter, one of the most reviled politicians of recent times.
Vitter meanwhile in his concession speech: “We came up short, let me re-phrase that – I came up short, you all were fabulous”. Jay Dardenne wasn’t conservative enough to attract Republican support, either by record or by articulation. Charles Boustany and John Fleming, among others.
Democrats were ecstatic as Edwards defied expectations that only a Republican could win statewide in Louisiana.
After two terms of Bobby Jindal’s mismanagement of the state, Lousiana voters took out their frustrations on the GOP, by electing Democrat John Bel Edwards to serve as their next governor.
Edwards painted the race as a referendum on Vitter’s character and integrity and suggested the USA senator didn’t measure up.
Edwards, forty-nine, now represents Louisiana’s 72nd District in its House of Representatives. In the end, though, this being Louisiana it seems clear that whoever emerges from the state’s jungle primary as the Republican nominee next year will be the odds-on favorite to win the election, and may well win the election outright in that primary.
Advertisement
The Vitter defeat will have ripple effects in Louisiana politics.
