Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards beat Republican challenger Eddie Rispone, a close ally of President Trump, to win a second term.
The nail-biting race Saturday, called by the Associated Press for Edwards, pitted a popular moderate incumbent — the only Democrat in a governor’s mansion in the Deep South — against a Republican challenger vociferously backed by Trump in a state where only five former chief executives can boast about winning reelection.
With 3,776 of 3,934 precincts reporting and votes still being counted, Edwards had 734,671 votes (51%) compared to Rispone’s 715,659 (49%), according to the Louisiana secretary of state’s office.
While Edwards, 53, sought to distance his campaign for a second term from national politics, the matchup with Rispone, 70, was seen by onlookers as a referendum on Trump and Democratic-led impeachment proceedings in the House. That narrative was pushed by the president himself during one of his two visits to the conservative bastion in as many weeks to stump for Rispone, a fellow businessman and political newcomer. His trips coincide with the start of the impeachment investigation’s public hearings.
“I have one problem. And it has been very hard on my family. Whoever heard — impeachment to me is a dirty word. It’s been very unfair, very hard on my family. Me, it’s my whole life, it’s crazy. What a life I lead. You think this is fun, don’t you? But it’s been very hard on my family. Very, very hard,” Trump said at a rally in Bossier City.
Saturday night’s run-off was triggered by Edwards last month missing the 50% threshold to emerge victorious from Louisiana’s all-parties gubernatorial primary by three percentage points in a ruby red state that swept Trump into the White House in 2016 by 20 percentage points.
Edwards, a former state lawmaker who clinched the governorship in 2015, is a West Point graduate and former Army Ranger who rankled many members of his own party this year by signing into law a measure limiting access to abortions. He is also pro-Second Amendment and has criticized Trump’s impeachment, telling reporters in October he did not “think Louisiana should be taking inspiration from the partisanship in (Washington) D.C.”
Rispone, a wealthy developer, invested $12 million of his own money in his campaign, supplementing an overflow of cash from donors for both candidates and their respective parties.
Republican Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin last Thursday conceded defeat to Democratic state attorney general Andy Beshear, despite Trump winning the state by almost 30 percentage points last presidential cycle. Bevin’s loss has largely been chalked up to his own unpopularity in Kentucky rather than being an indictment of Trump. The GOP, however, hung onto the governor’s mansion in Mississippi, with Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves prevailing in his gubernatorial contest over Democratic state attorney general Jim Hood.
