Louisiana gubernatorial election, 2003

Louisiana gubernatorial election, 2003
1999 ←
 November 15, 2003
 → 2007
 
Nominee Kathleen Babineaux Blanco Bobby Jindal
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote 731,358 676,484
Percentage 51.95% 48.05%
Parish Results
Governor before election

Mike Foster
Republican

 Elected Governor

Kathleen Babineaux Blanco
Democratic
Elections in Louisiana

The Louisiana gubernatorial election of 2003 resulted in the election of Kathleen Babineaux Blanco as governor of Louisiana.

Contents

Background

Elections in Louisiana—with the exception of U.S. presidential elections—follow a variation of the open primary system called the jungle primary. Candidates of any and all parties are listed on one ballot; voters need not limit themselves to the candidates of one party. Unless one candidate takes more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round, a run-off election is then held between the top two candidates, who may in fact be members of the same party.[2] In this election, the first round of voting was held on October 4, 2003, and the runoff was held on November 15, 2003.

Candidates

Democrats

Republicans

Campaign

Departing Governor Foster was disqualified from succeeding himself for a third term by Louisiana's constitution, so the 2003 race was perceived as wide open and saw a large number of candidates enter the campaign. The primary phase of the campaign was characterized by the large number of strong Democratic contenders. Ieyoub was seen as one of the strongest Democratic candidates throughout the campaign, and only narrowly lost a slot in the runoff to Blanco, who had a strong base of support in the Acadian parishes and among women voters. The efforts of Leach to appeal to the same base as Ieyoub led them to split the Democratic vote and to come in third and fourth.

The leading Republican candidate, by contrast, was chosen fairly early on. Jindal took a commanding lead among Republican supporters early in the campaign, leaving Hunt Downer far behind.

In the runoff, Jindal received endorsements from the New Orleans Times-Picayune (the largest paper in Louisiana), Mayor Nagin (who had supported Ewing in the primary but declined to endorse Blanco in the runoff), and outgoing Republican Governor Mike Foster. Some political analysts believe that his narrow loss was partly due to racism. Other political analysts have blamed Jindal for his refusal to answer questions about his record brought up in several ads, which the Jindal campaign called "negative attack ads", the most effective of which denounced his health care plan. Still others note that a significant number of conservative Louisianans remain more comfortable voting for a conservative Democrat than for a Republican. The runoff between Bobby Jindal and Kathleen Blanco brought two 'firsts' for Louisiana political history. If elected, Jindal would have been the United States' first Indian-American governor. The victorious Blanco became Louisiana's first woman governor. She was also the second woman to have been lieutenant governor.

Results

First voting round, October 4

Louisiana Gubernatorial Election, 2003
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Bobby Jindal 443,389 32.54
Democratic Kathleen Blanco 250,136 18.36
Democratic Richard Ieyoub 223,513 16.40
Democratic Claude "Buddy" Leach 187,872 13.79
Democratic Randy Ewing 123,936 9.10
Republican Hunt Downer 84,718 6.22
Republican Alan Allgood 7,866 0.58
Democratic Patrick Henry "Dat" Barthel 7,338 0.54
Independent Patrick "Live Wire" Landry 7,195 0.53
Independent Eddie Mangin 6,745 0.50
Independent J. D. "Boudreaux" Estilette 6,439 0.47
Democratic J. E. Jumonville, Jr. 3,410 0.25
Independent John M. "Doc" Simoneaux, Jr. 3,280 0.24
Independent Quentin R. Brown, Jr. 2,414 0.18
Democratic Mike Stagg 1,667 0.12
Democratic Richard McCoy 1,513 0.11
Democratic Fred Robertson 1,093 0.08
Turnout 1,362,524

Runoff, November 15

Louisiana Gubernatorial Election, 2003
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Kathleen Blanco 731,358 51.95%
Republican Bobby Jindal 676,484 48.05%
Turnout 1,407,842
Democratic gain from Republican Swing
Preceded by
1999 gubernatorial election		 Louisiana gubernatorial elections Succeeded by
2007 gubernatorial election

Sources

Secretary of State Elections Division. Official Election Results Database

Parent, Wayne. Inside the Carnival: Unmasking Louisiana Politics. LSU Press, 2004.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune. "Jindal takes easy lead heading into runoff." October 5, 2003.