Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards won re-election in a highly contested high dollar race against a candidate who spent at least $12 million of his own money and had President Donald Trump at his beck and call. Edwards beat Republican Eddie Rispone, who Trump had personally campaigned for three times in the state in the past five weeks, and had promoted repeatedly on Twitter.
Calling it a “hard loss” and “a stinging rebuke” for Trump, The New York Times notes the president’s multiple visits to campaign for Rispone were “an effort to lift the Republicans and demonstrate his own clout.”
Bel Edwards campaigned on his record, which included expanding badly-needed Medicare, raising taxes to help fix the state’s budget, and giving teachers a pay increase.
Governor Edwards’ predecessor, Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal, “repeatedly used short-term patches to eliminate financial shortfalls,” The Shreveport Times reported in January. “They raided savings accounts, drained trust funds, sold off state property and delayed bill payments to keep the budget in balance amid tax breaks that siphoned away more and more money from the treasury.”
Earlier this week in Louisiana President Trump campaigned for Rispone, but appeared to be more interested in framing the election as a vote of confidence for himself.
Trump had recently backed Kentucky Republican governor Matt Devin for re-election. He too went down in defeat.
In Virginia Republicans, despite Trump’s support, lost massively. Democrats took control of both the House and Senate, giving them control of the State Legislature and the Governor’s office for the first time since 1973.
Pollster Matt McDermott summed it up Saturday night: