One of Vitter’s Republican opponents, Jay Dardenne, endorsed Edwards. Republican strategists in Washington had expressed reluctance to put money behind him, preferring a candidate who would be an easier sell in a tricky election year for Senate Republicans.
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Vitter has one more year as U.S. Senator.
Mr Edwards and Mr Vitter had advanced to the run-off following the state’s open “jungle primary” last month, in which candidates of all parties run against each other, with the top two contesting a run-off if neither secures 50 per cent of the overall vote. He benefited from a primary in which he largely escaped attacks while the Republicans slammed each other. He might have fooled the public into believing him a conservative by aping the “pro-life, pro-gun” mantra of previous Democrat politicians before exasperated Louisiana voters began turning them out of major offices, but his legislative record and his statements show him to be a vigorous practitioner of the classic blue-state model of governance.
An investigative blogger published an interview with a former escort who claimed to have carried on a yearslong affair with Mr. Vitter.
Vitter became embroiled in a prostitiution scandal in 2007. Edwards has supported Medicaid expansion in Louisiana, which Jindal has rejected. And Edwards also did his best to tie Vitter to Bobby Jindal, the unpopular outgoing governor.
Edwards painted the race as a referendum on Vitter’s character and integrity and suggested the United States senator didn’t measure up.
He also leveraged his appointment to West Point, where he became an Army Ranger before returning to Louisiana to raise his family.
Vitter said he’d reached his “personal term limit” and would leave the Senate when his term expires in January 2017, but he pledged to work with the new administration in Baton Rouge while in the nation’s capital. David Vitter in Saturday’s election, marking a change in the political landscape in the conservative South. It was the first election Vitter had ever lost. ” Even Jazz was a little surprised by Vitter’s loss”. As fruitless as that effort often was, it seemed to clarify what his pitch would be in a governor’s race. At the time, he confessed to a “serious sin”, and then handily won re-election to the Senate in 2010. Boustany, Fleming and Kennedy all attended Vitter’s gubernatorial party Saturday night, in spite of knowing he likely wouldn’t win.
In an interview after Vitter’s announcement, Kennedy declined to say whether he would run for the office now that Vitter is stepping down. “I will not let you down”, he said. “I just hope that that’s not going to be the majority of either party”.
There is a faction of House Republicans, however, who aren’t necessarily interested in picking a speaker that suits Edwards. Another vanquished GOP foe, Public Service Commissioner Scott Angelle, stayed neutral.
Edwards’ victory speech followed Vitter’s concession, in which Vitter announced that he had phoned Edwards to offer his congratulations.
Meanwhile, Mitch Landrieu, the mayor of New Orleans and the most well-known Democrat now in office in the state, has not ruled out a run for the Senate. In fact, the Republicans picked up two more seats in the Louisiana House this election cycle, giving them 61 of the 105 seats, in spite of Edwards victory.
“Vitter is dropping in the polls and feeling his lead slipping away, so his paranoia and desperation are kicking in”, said Republican pollster Rolf McCollister, The Daily Beast reported.
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Vitter also had to overcome voters’ frustration with the current Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal, who is term-limited.
