Democrat elected governor in Republican stronghold of Louisiana

And when Vitter entered the race in January 2014 as the frontrunner, he was pulling in tremendous sums of campaign cash and firing up a dominant political machine that he’s used to get himself and his allies regularly elected to Louisiana offices.

Vitter, originally the frontrunner, suffered from questions about his character and could not recover from a prostitution scandal in 2007 that became a discussion point in the race. Edwards supports gun rights and is anti-abortion. The Louisiana State Troopers Association, which rarely endorses gubernatorial candidates, backed Edwards.

In a state that has not elected a Democrat to statewide office since 2008, and in a part of the country where Democratic campaigns for governor are mostly suicide missions, a Republican was assumed to have an easy path to victory.

With all precincts reporting, Vitter lost to Democrat John Bel Edwards, the minority leader in the state’s House of Representatives, 56 percent to 44 percent. Trailing, Vitter launched an ad that used footage of the attacks and called for a halt of Syrian refugees into Louisiana, fearing that ISIS sympathizers could infiltrate. In his concession speech, Vitter announced that he will leave the Senate when his term ends next year. Vitter could seek re-election to the Senate in 2016, though Republican colleagues are hardly enthusiastic about that scenario, concerned his unpopularity could throw the seat to a Democratic opponent.

After his loss Saturday, Vitter said he wouldn’t seek reelection to the Senate in 2016. Bill Cassidy supported Vitter, but a few other GOP officeholders backed Edwards.

The Edwards campaign hammered on the prostitution allegations relentlessly, capped by one of the hardest-hitting spots in recent political history.

Democrats have a lot to celebrate in a state where they’ve been shut out of statewide elected office.

Vitter conceded about 90 minutes after the polls closed. Vitter also was hampered by high disapproval ratings for Jindal, who is blamed for the state’s financial problems.

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

But the free-for-all nature of the primary, in which candidates from all parties compete, allowed Edwards to look like the adult in the room as his GOP opponents attacked one another with increasing viciousness. He capitalized on voters’ apparent unease with Vitter and built a campaign on personal integrity. “I will never embarrass you”.

Vitter said Edwards was misrepresenting a record filled with votes supporting teacher unions and trial lawyers and opposing business interests and education reform efforts. Polling this fall from both Morning Consult and the University of New Orleans showed Jindal to be wildly unpopular even among Louisiana Republicans, and it’s likely that this carried over to the race to succeed him.

“I thought he was going to be a career Army officer”, said his sophomore-year roommate at West Point, Murray Starkel, now an engineer in Dallas.

During the last two weeks of the campaign, Vitter’s campaign ads portrayed him in a more sympathetic light. with one featuring the senator showing contrition for the scandal and another with Vitter and wife Wendy’s son Jack speaking up for his dad.

At least $30 million was spent in the race, from candidates and outside groups who have played a larger role in this year’s competition than in prior state elections.

Democrats in Louisiana are rejoicing as they reclaimed the governor’s mansion for the first time in eight years.