John Bel Edwards, David Vitter advance to runoff in governor's race (UPDATED)

[Omaha Steve]

Last edited Sun Oct 25, 2015, 08:47 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: NOLA

Andrew Boyd

Democratic state Rep. John Bel Edwards and Republican U.S. Sen. David Vitter will continue their heated battle for governor in a Nov. 21 runoff after finishing 1-2 in the primary election Saturday.

The Edwards-Vitter pairing was no surprise. Edwards was all but guaranteed 30 percent of the vote as the only major Democrat running; he ended up with 40 percent. Vitter was the candidate of choice for conservative Republicans, but was a distant second with 23 percent.

In the end, the two other Republicans in the race -- Public Service Commissioner Scott Angelle and Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne -- couldn't piece together coalitions big enough to overcome Vitter's conservative appeal. Vitter may be popular with his "super Republican" base, but polling shows he has "high negatives" among other groups of voters.

And it is obvious that Edwards and Vitter will be going hard after each other in the runoff. In his victory speech, Edwards referred to Vitter as Nixonian and just another version of Bobby Jindal. Vitter said electing Edwards would be like electing Barack Obama as governor of Louisiana.

FULL story at link.


John Bel Edwards, left, and David Vitter, right, will face each other in a runoff election for governor next month. (NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune photos by Ted Jackson, left, and David Grunfeld, right)

Read more: http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/10/louisiana_governor_victory.html

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Sorry I forgot to update this sooner.

[obnoxiousdrunk]

1. Thanks Steve !

[DonCoquixote]

2. few things would be finer

than to see Bobby JIndal go down in flames!

[IphengeniaBlumgarten]

3. Bobby Jindal is not in the race; David Vitter is, though...

Vitter was supposed to waltz into the governorship, but he has been dodging questions, failing to show up for debates, plenty of bad publicity about his Serious Sins.

Two highest candidates will be in a runoff. John Bel Edwards and Scott Angelle the way it looks right now.

[Yavin4]

5. Don't be too hard on Vitter

He has diaper rash.

[Robbins]

6. it probally would gave been better

if Edwards was running against Vitter in runoff but vitter losing is great news.

If edwards could win runoff it would be good signal going into 2016 for democrats.

[Attorney in Texas]

16. Didn't Vitter pull it off? I thought I saw the runoff was Edwards v. Vitter -- no?

[former9thward]

18. Yes you did.

Posters posting their fantasy , not the actual results.

[RandySF]

4. Our only chance though, is if Vitter takes the next spot.

[IphengeniaBlumgarten]

7. Yes, with about 3/4 of precincts reporting, looks like Vitter in second position. nt

[Jack Rabbit]

8. This sounds exciting.

OK, he's got to be better than Jindal or Vitter.

So what? How much better is he than Mary Landrieu?

[pacalo]

9. Here are the Sec. of State's not-yet-official results:

Beryl Billiot (N) 0.52% 4327
"Jay" Dardenne (R) 14.74% 121469
Cary Deaton (D) 1.06% 8724
John Bel Edwards (D) 37.83% 311822
Jeremy "JW" Odom (N) 0.45% 3684
Eric Paul Orgeron (O) 0.21% 1696
S L Simpson (D) 0.68% 5630
David Vitter (R) 23.37% 192623

[Robbins]

10. so it mat be edwards vs Vitter

I like fact the democrat is getting most votes there tonight.

[pacalo]

12. There's going to be a run-off between the two (update added below)...

Last edited Sun Oct 25, 2015, 01:26 AM - Edit history (1)

I'll post the results when they are official.


http://staticresults.sos.la.gov/10242015/10242015_Statewide.html


The final results:

Scott A. Angelle (R) 19.30% 214907
Beryl Billiot (N) 0.51% 5690
"Jay" Dardenne (R) 14.96% 166553
Cary Deaton (D) 1.06% 11750
John Bel Edwards (D) 39.88% 444061
Jeremy "JW" Odom (N) 0.43% 4755
Eric Paul Orgeron (O) 0.20% 2244
S L Simpson (D) 0.67% 7411
David Vitter (R) 23.00% 256105

[Robbins]

13. it's good news

that the Democrat made into runoff election.With LA system it could have been 2 republicans In run-off but the dem is doing
pretty well.

There was time when people thought vitter would win easily.at least he will be drawn into runoff.

[pacalo]

14. It's a lot better than I had expected.

Edwards is 16% ahead of Vitter, with 3665 of 3945 precincts having been reported.

[Robbins]

15. Yep

while there are other republicans running edwards being ahead of vitter in jungle primary is good news.

[pacalo]

17. It sure is! Those who live in red states would know what a feat that is.

But, you know, for such a red state, I wonder why Republicans don't make their affiliations known on their tv/printed ads. Why hide it?

[former9thward]

19. Probably why the Democrats hide theirs.

Louisiana is not Wyoming or Idaho.

[pacalo]

20. No, I can understand why a Democrat would hide theirs in a red state

when asking voters for their support, but Republicans hiding theirs makes no sense. It tends to make me wonder why.

[former9thward]

24. Where I live both parties hide their identification.

Maybe because Indies are the number one "party". Both parties are losing support. They don't really stand for anything. The only reason we still have D vs. R elections is that the parties have conspired with each other to make it next to impossible for Indies and third parties to effectively get on the ballot while the D and R presence is mandated by law.

[BlueMTexpat]

21. These elections seem to be a bit different.

Louisiana has a "jungle" primary - the first time I have heard of such - for this election. All candidates, regardless of party affiliation appear on the same ballot. If no one candidate receives a majority, there is a runoff between the top two vote-getters.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_gubernatorial_election,_2015

Hope that Edwards can pull this off! The fact that Louisianans STILL vote for Diaper Dave at all gives one pause, however.

[Stuart G]

22. Here is John Bel Edwards web site:

http://www.johnbelforlouisiana.com/vote

[SansACause]

23. Not so good

He got 40%. The other 60% went to Republicans. The way the South is, all those voting R will vote for Vitter if they come out. The hope is for low Republican turnout, but that almost never happens.

[TexasBushwhacker]

25. Bell is a pro gun, antiabortion Democrat

Can he get a third of the votes cast for the other 2 Republicans? Maybe, but it's going to be tough.

[Roy Rolling]

27. Not necessarily

Vitter beat up his Republican opponents mercilessly with millions spent I negative PAC ads. Dardenne and Angelle supporters hate Vitter and will not vote for him.

Overheard at the Vitter camp: "If I'd have known I needed endorsements I'd have been more respectful to those other two Republican assholes."

[LiberalArkie]

26. I was hoping that some of the new dems down there could pull it out

only incumbent D's were in the runoffs. Even if Edwards pulls it out in Nov Louisiana is still very RED, There did not seem to be any movement at all on the few "Semi progressive" items on the ballot.

[marlakay]

28. We are in New Orleans for anniversary

Signs for John Edwards all over and young teens out yesterday with signs reminding people to vote.

[6000eliot]

29. Who wouldn't want Diaper Boy as governor?