LA ELECTION RETURNS - Of the more than 2 Million registered voters in Louisiana – more than half turned out at polling places Saturday to cast their ballot for a number of things – local bond issues, state senate district candidates, Secretary of State, but the big ticket for Saturday was the runoff between Democrat incumbent Governor John Bel Edwards and Republican Challenger Eddie Rispone .
The race was nothing short of a nail-biter with the lead changing by narrow margins as precincts reported the results. But after all the votes were turned in and tallied, the clear winner was Governor John Bel Edwards who received 774,469 votes to Rispone’s 734,128, the winning margin was a little more than 40,000 votes for Edwards. After receiving a phone call from the challenger, Edwards addressed an enthusiastic crowd at the Renaissance Hotel in Baton Rouge.
Businessman Eddie Rispone reportedly spent in excess of $14 million dollars of his own money in his campaign for governor. He also received support from President Donald Trump whose campaign organization held rallies with the president visiting the state three times, once before the primary and twice within two weeks of the runoff. Post-election analysts have labeled Edwards’ success as a defeat-by-proxy for Trump as the president had stumped for other gubernatorial candidates across the country in Red states to which 3 of the 4 Governor slots were won by Democrats with Louisiana the only deep-south state with a Democratic Governor. Edwards is the first Democrat Governor to win re-election since 1975.
