Bayou State voters shocked the Louisiana Republican Party and pundits across the country Saturday night, overwhelmingly choosing Democratic State Representative John Bel Edwards as the next governor of Louisiana over the once-heavy favorite, U.S. Republican Senator David Vitter, a victor of many past statewide elections. A 1988 West Point graduate, Edwards served as an Army Ranger, among other duties, during an eight-year military career.
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Republican state Rep. Rob Shadoin of Ruston, who crossed party lines to support Edwards, was among those attending his press conference. Current Governor Bobby Jindal isn’t particularly well liked there-a recent poll found that he only had a roughly 20 percent approval rating overall, and even worse, 55 percent of Republicans in the state don’t approve of his job performance.
Vitter told his supporters that while “I came up short – you all were fabulous”.
Louisiana Democrats rejoiced in Edward’s upset victory – reclaimed the governor’s mansion for the first time in eight years. Mr. Vitter was thought to be that Republican, given his overwhelming fund-raising advantage, unquestioned conservative reputation and proven skill at crushing challengers.
The news marks a stunning fall for Vitter, who just months ago had been considered the front-runner to replace term-limited Gov. Bobby Jindal. Something of an “Anybody but Vitter” movement began to form, powered in part by two “super PACs” formed expressly to seek his defeat.
An investigative blogger published an interview with a former escort who claimed to have carried on a yearslong affair with Mr. Vitter.
“I’ve lost one political campaign in my life, tonight”. 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.
We at NPI extend our congratulations to John Bel Edwards on his incredible victory in this gubernatorial runoff, and wish him the best as he prepares to take office as Louisiana’s new chief executive.
Governor Jindal, who recently dropped out of the Republican presidential race, will leave office as something of an embarrassment.
After a long battle, the Louisiana governor’s race has been decided.
Vitter became embroiled in a prostitiution scandal in 2007.
“We will be very inclusive and moderate… and govern from the perspective of being Louisianians first”, said Edwards, who beat Republican U.S. Sen. Democrats tried to make it an issue in Vitter’s 2010 re-election bid.
Had the defeated Vitter, a Republican, made a decision to seek re-election to the Senate, his choice would have raised more questions than it would answer.
Now that the 2016 election shapes up as an ordinary contest for an open Senate seat, it likely will draw a host of contenders, especially on the Republican side.
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But the governor’s race was different. Two Republican House members, Charles Boustany and John Fleming, had openly angled for appointment to the Senate by Vitter, had he won. In addition, many analysts felt that the Paris terrorist attacks and the ensuing controversy over settling Syrian refugees in Louisiana, might play in Vitter’s favor.
