In Louisiana vote, governor in battle for 50% mark

Veronica Mucker (right) stands at the head of the line Saturday at a Baton Rouge middle school to cast her vote in Louisiana’s statewide primary election.
Veronica Mucker (right) stands at the head of the line Saturday at a Baton Rouge middle school to cast her vote in Louisiana’s statewide primary election.

BATON ROUGE -- Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards' quest for a second term as the Deep South's only Democratic governor will stretch over another month, as voters denied him a primary win Saturday and sent him to a runoff.

The Democratic incumbent was unable to top 50% of the vote in the six-candidate field, raising questions about his reelection chances against a national Republican offensive that includes President Donald Trump. Trump made a last-minute appeal to Louisiana's voters to reject Edwards.

Edwards will compete in the Nov. 16 runoff against Eddie Rispone, a Baton Rouge businessman and longtime GOP political donor making his first bid for public office.

Rispone largely self-financed his campaign, reaching the second-place spot after outspending fellow Republican contender U.S. Rep. Ralph Abraham 5-to-1.

Three Republican statewide elected officials on the ballot won reelection to new four-year terms: Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser, Attorney General Jeff Landry and Treasurer John Schroder. Three other GOP incumbents also were seeking to hold on to their jobs, and voters were deciding four proposed constitutional changes.

Republicans sought to prove that Edwards' long-shot victory in 2015 was a fluke, aided by an opponent, David Vitter, who was hobbled by a prostitution scandal and attacks on his moral character from fellow Republicans in the primary.

Democrats want an Edwards reelection win to show they can compete even in a state that Trump won by 20 points.

Throughout his campaign, Edwards, 53, sought to make the election a referendum on his performance rather than a commentary on Louisiana views on national politics.

The West Point graduate and former Army Ranger opposes abortion and gun restrictions, talks of working well with the Trump administration and calls the U.S. House Democrats' impeachment inquiry a distraction to governing in Washington. He signed one of the nation's strictest abortion bans.

In his campaign, the Democratic incumbent contrasted three recent years of budget surpluses with the deficit-riddled terms of his predecessor, Republican Bobby Jindal. Edwards and the majority-Republican state Legislature passed a tax deal that stabilized state finances and allowed for new investments in public colleges and the first statewide teacher raise in a decade.

"When I took office, the state of Louisiana had the largest budget deficit in our history," Edwards said. "We did the hard, bipartisan work necessary to right the ship, to strengthen our economy."

Edwards expanded Louisiana's Medicaid program, adding nearly a half-million new people to government-financed health care and lowering the state's uninsured rate below the national average. A bipartisan criminal sentencing law rewrite he championed ended Louisiana's tenure as the nation's top jailer.

Josh Jansen, voting at Warren Easton High School in New Orleans, cast his ballot for Edwards.

"I just think he's done a good job. He's a good mix of Republican and Democrat," Jansen said. He said he appreciated Edwards' working across the aisle, which he said is uncommon in U.S. politics these days.

Republicans panned the governor's performance, saying Edwards raised taxes too high, stifling economic development and chasing people from Louisiana.

"It's not a surplus. He overtaxed you. It's your money," Abraham said. "We are taxed, taxed, taxed to death."

The Republican contenders said the Medicaid expansion was rife with abuse, wasting millions of taxpayer dollars.

Marie Cavin, an antiques dealer, voted for Abraham, 65, who has a background as a doctor, saying she chose him because he was a Republican and she heard good things about him from her co-workers. She didn't necessarily object to Edwards' performance, but she described herself as a Trump supporter who didn't feel comfortable supporting a Democrat.

"I don't really like what's going on with the Democrats nationally," Cavin said. "I just felt like I wanted to get a Republican in there."

Rispone, 70, founder of a Baton Rouge industrial contracting company, is a longtime GOP political donor running for his first elected office. He largely self-financed his campaign, pouring $11 million in the race. He presented himself in the mold of Trump, describing himself as a conservative outsider who would upend the traditional political system of Baton Rouge.

"We need a CEO, someone with serious business experience," Rispone told supporters. "Both sides of the aisle have failed you. It's time to do something different."

Voter Barbie Edwards said she supported Rispone when she cast her early vote in the New Orleans area.

"He's a good businessman. He'd be a good businessman for the state like Trump is for the country," she said.

A Section on 10/13/2019

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