Sick Of Bobby Jindal, exhausted of David Vitter, Louisiana Elects Democratic Governor

If nothing else, David Vitter simplified the 2016 U.S. Senate election in Louisiana with his announcement Saturday night after losing the governor’s race that he won’t try for a third term in the Senate next year. “The state’s in real trouble”.

Charges and countercharges involving thugs, terrorists, prostitutes and spies have dominated the raucous final stretch of a Louisiana governors race that was, until recently, expected to be an easy victory for Republican Sen. The party’s fortunes in the deep south have been abysmal with Republicans making gains all across the region. He is a devout Catholic, U.S. Army veteran, and family man whose roots in the state go incredibly deep.

In days of increasing partisan divisions among voters, Edwards overcame the weak track record of Democrats in Louisiana, winning the state’s most powerful office in what is – in today’s terms – a landslide victory. Edwards also continued to strike at Vitter for the prostitution scandal, most notably when he ran a TV ad that said Vitter missed a vote to honor soldiers because of a phone call from the prostitution service, choosing “prostitutes over patriots”. And Vitter supported state treasurer John Kennedy’s constant carping at Jindal on the budget, in fact co-authoring a number of critiques with Kennedy on specific spending items.

Vitter entered the race as the early favorite amid a field of lesser known and lesser funded candidates, including state Democratic Rep. Edwards. David Vitter in the runoff with 56 percent of the vote.

Democrats were ecstatic as Edwards defied expectations that only a Republican could win statewide in Louisiana.

But Edwards, an attorney from Amite who has served two terms in the state House without ever having even chaired a committee, shrewdly emphasized his conservative views on abortion and guns to soften what had become a toxic party tag in the state.

“I’ve lost one political campaign in my life, tonight”. “I’m very confident we’re going to elect another strong conservative to fill this Senate seat next year”. The most immediate effect of his election might be the state’s acceptance of Medicaid expansion, which Edwards pledged to carry out right away.

“The current administration has failed Louisiana”, Peterson said in an interview. With his 12-percentage point loss, Vitter announced he wouldn’t seek re-election to the Senate in 2016.

Though Edwards offered a few light moments – “After waking up I read three newspapers, all of which reported the same results (of the election)”, he said – most of his press was devoted to serious issues looming after he takes office January 11. He described himself as committed “to materially change the direction of our state, to move in a new and better direction, to be the governor of all the people whether or not they voted for me”.

Thousands of Vietnam refugees settled in the late 1970s and 1980s on the gulf coast from Texas to Alabama, where they flourished in the shrimp fishing industry.

Edwards plans to meet with the media Sunday afternoon in New Orleans.