Democrat John Bel Edwards wins governorship in conservative Louisiana

Democrat John Bel Edwards won the runoff election for Louisiana governor Saturday, defeating the once-heavy favorite, Republican David Vitter, and handing the Democrats their first statewide victory since 2008.

Edwards, a state lawmaker, will take over the office from term-limited Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal in January.

Voters’ rejection of Vitter was a stunning turn of events for the U.S. senator, who has been a political powerhouse in the state for years and started his campaign nearly two years ago as the race’s front-runner.

Edwards painted the race as a referendum on Vitter’s character and integrity and suggested that the U.S. senator didn’t measure up in such a competition. Edwards focused on his West Point degree and military resume, and he pledged a bipartisan leadership style.

In the final days, Vitter sought to rally Republican voters who stayed home in the primary by drawing policy distinctions with Edwards and making Syrian refugee resettlement an issue in the state campaign. But it apparently didn’t work.

Edwards is taking over a state awash in financial problems.

Neither Edwards nor Vitter offered detailed road maps for tackling the budget woes, and the general outlines they touted were largely similar in approach.

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Rather than a race about the state’s deep financial troubles, the contest for governor largely became a referendum on Vitter, who has been in elected office, first as a state lawmaker and then in Congress, for more than 20 years.

Vitter began the election cycle nearly two years ago as the clear favorite, expected to have an easy waltz into the governor’s office. But Vitter was hit with repeated attacks for a 2007 prostitution scandal in which he apologized for a “serious sin” after he was linked through phone records to Washington’s “D.C. Madam.”

The U.S. senator also was hampered by high disapproval ratings for his fellow Republican, Jindal, who is blamed for the state’s financial problems.

Vitter says he is not going to run again for the Senate seat.

He made the announcement during an appearance to campaign supporters in the New Orleans suburbs Saturday evening after it became apparent that he would not win the governor’s race.

Vitter, who has one year left in his second Senate term, told supporters that before entering the governor’s race, he and his wife had decided that he would not seek another term in the Senate.

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