In an election scarcely noticed by national political reporters, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal was reelected yesterday with 66% of the vote—far more than the absolute majority needed for victory in this multicandidate election. In second place with 18% of the vote was Democrat Tara Hollis; three other Democrats got 10% of the vote. Jindal carried every one of Louisiana’s 64 parishes (the equivalent of counties in other states) and got less than 50% in only five of them, including Orleans who is coextensive with the city of New Orleans, and four small rural parishes with large black percentages. Jindal was elected in 2007 with 54% of the vote; he improved his percentage in all but one parish (East Baton Rouge, which includes the state capital of Baton Rouge) and made especially big gains in the Cajun country along the Gulf coast. Turnout was low, the lowest since 1975 when Edwin Edwards was elected to the second of his four terms without opposition. Turnout dropped the most, as compared to the November 2008 presidential election, in the cities, particularly New Orleans, but also in the parishes including Baton Rouge, Lafayette and Lake Charles in the Cajun country and Shreveport and Monroe in the north.
Here is a regional breakdown, with votes and percentages for Jindal and for his opponents:
LOUISIANA 672,950 66% 349,489 34% 1,022,439
New Orleans metro 151,387 68% 71,497 32% 222,884
Baton Rouge metro 108,950 58% 78,773 42% 187,723
Cajun country 199,602 71% 80,942 29% 280,544
Northern 213,011 64% 118,277 36% 331,288
Jindal carried metro New Orleans despite losing the central city because of high percentages in suburban Jefferson Parish (76%) and St. Tammany Parish (84%). Jefferson Parish now casts many more votes than New Orleans and St. Tammany Parish almost as many. Jindal’s big win in Cajun country probably owes something to his efforts to clean up the Gulf oil spill and keep offshore rigs working; this does not look like favorable territory for Barack Obama in 2012, to say the least. Louisiana has the second highest black percentage of population of any state, and it appears that most votes against Jindal were cast by blacks. But he was still able to win more than 50% in many black-majority parishes. Altogether this was an impressive endorsement by voters who know Jindal well after four years in office.
