Louisiana's race for governor features a jungle primary, where candidates from all parties are on the same ballot. The top two candidates in the primary usually square off in a runoff.
But, in Saturday's primary which featured a crowded field of more than a dozen candidates, Republican Jeff Landry pulled off a shocker as he received more than 50 percent of the vote to win the governorship and avoid a runoff.
“Today’s election says that our state is united,” Landry said during his victory speech Saturday night. “It’s a wake up call and it’s a message that everyone should hear loud and clear," he added.
Landry, the state's attorney general under Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards, was endorsed by former President Donald Trump. Edwards was term-limited.
"Landry, 52, has raised the profile of attorney general since being elected in 2015. He has used his office to champion conservative policy positions" The Associated Press, which named Landry the victory, reported.
Conservative voting activist Scott Presler, a key cog in the Landry get-out-the-vote effort, tweeted: "Spent a good part of the last year working on the Louisiana gubernatorial race. People thought I was crazy for thinking we could win outright. Congratulations Governor-Elect Jeff Landry. Thank you to everyone that wrote letters to new movers. Holy cow. We did it."
Landry was expected by many political observers to face Democrat Shawn Wilson in a runoff scheduled for November. The last time there wasn’t a gubernatorial runoff in Louisiana was in 2011 and 2007, when Bobby Jindal, a Republican, won the state’s top position.
As attorney general, Landry has been in the spotlight over state laws including banning transgender surgeries for children, the state’s near-total abortion ban, and a law restricting youths’ access to 'sexually explicit material' in libraries.
Landry has also battled Joe Biden’s policies that limit oil and gas production and Covid vaccine mandates.
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