Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If you don’t believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love isn’t freedom, it is privilege.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

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When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

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This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

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Consistently wrong since 2002

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Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

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If America since Jan 2025 hasn’t broken your heart, you haven’t loved her enough.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

You are here: Home / Elections / Local Races 2018 and earlier / Democrat Wins in Louisiana (for What It’s Worth)

Democrat Wins in Louisiana (for What It’s Worth)

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Mother Jones reports:

Republican Sen. David Vitter lost his bid to be the next governor of Louisiana on Saturday, and it wasn’t even close. The two-term senator lost the runoff election to Democratic state Rep. John Bel Edwards by double digits, setting the stage for the state to potentially become the first in the Deep South to accept a pivotal part of Obamacare…

Edwards, an anti-abortion, pro-gun, West Point grad, became the first Democratic candidate to win a statewide election in Louisiana since 2008, and benefited from support from Republicans who were dissatisfied with Vitter’s personal troubles and who were disappointed by the state’s financial woes under outgoing Gov. Bobby Jindal. (By the time Jindal dropped out of the presidential race on Wednesday, the one-time rising star’s approval ratings had dropped to 20-percent.)

Jindal also rejected federal funding to expand Medicaid. Edwards has pledged to sign an executive order authorizing the expansion of the program on his first day in office. That’s a really big deal. Such a move would provide coverage to about 225,000 residents in one of the poorest states in the nation.

John Bel Edwards is not exactly the perfect candidate of my progressive dreams, but then, I’m not an uninsured poor person in Louisiana. So props for the win, about-to-be-Governor Edwards, and may your every legislative decision be 180 degrees in opposition to that of the incumbent.

Reader Interactions

37Comments

  1. 1.

    rikyrah

    The 225,000 people that will now get access to healthcare……
    THAT ALONE is a good enough reason to be positive about this election.

  2. 2.

    Thoughtful Today

    Newly elected Democratic Governor Edwards: anti-abortion, pro-gun.

    …

    [keep repeating: big tent, big tent, big tent…]

  6. 6.

    jl

    OK, the Schooley tweet is Vitter and a Duck Dynasty guy, who looks a little bit like one of the pawn broker hero show guys.

    I thought after losing the election. Vitter was going to pawn himself for some cash, or some weird damn thing.

  7. 7.

    Frankensteinbeck

    but then, I’m not an uninsured poor person in Louisiana.

    I respect the Hell out of you for saying that, AL. It’s easy for us to argue about whether or not conservadems are worth it, but hundreds of thousands of people who were living in fear that they might have to choose between life-saving healthcare and life-saving food will be safe. Their lives, to coin a phrase, are a Big Fucking Deal.

  8. 8.

    ruemara

    One, I’m thrilled and Deity bless Edwards. Two, I have a nice cup of hot schadenfreude for Mr. Vitter. Three, I’m done with the audio massaging, the refining edit and I can watch it from start to finish without blanching. Barring shooting my pitch, a potential retake & vo line and animating some titles, this movie project is complete. Bob as my witless, I’m astounded I let a notion get this far.

  9. 9.

    David Koch

    @jl: Really? I thought that was Vitter hanging out with a Mooslim (terrorist beard and some keffiyeh inspired clothing).

    Vitter is even wearing what looks like a suicide vest, as he fondles a Kalashnikov with his left hand.

  10. 10.

    jl

    @David Koch: Naw, no way I thought that. GOP does reality shows these days. And Vitter has pawned himself so many times, it seemed like a natural career play.

    Anyway, congrats to Edwards, hope he does a good job. Glad for those who will benefit from Medicare expansion in Louisiana.

  11. 11.

    Karen

    @Thoughtful Today:

    225,000 people get health insurance that could have died before that. Medicaid expansion in MD last year literally saved my life because I had breast cancer AND a DVT that I was able to get treated.

    And yes, big tent, big tent. You might not like everything about a Conservadem but there will be at least one thing you’ll like.

  12. 12.

    Radio One

    I honestly thought that Vitter coutd win, despite the polls, so I guess that’s a win for the polling firms in resetting expectations in off-year elections?

  13. 13.

    Thoughtful Today

    Karen, I vote (D).

    Voting (D) means I’ve voted for a slew of increasingly right-wing Dems for … longer than I’d care to dwell on.

    Considering the current Democratic Party policies, it’s almost as if the Democratic Party was being run by sneaky College Republican sleeper agents….

    …

  15. 15.

    Felanius Kootea

    I have never seen a Democrat run ads like John Bel Edwards and attack so aggressively. Maybe this is a winning strategy for voters in Red states. Congratulations to those who will benefit from Medicaid expansion. Just don’t throw out the Democrat the minute he fixes Jindal’s mess.

  18. 18.

    NotMax

    So when does the Louisiana legislature pass a constitutional amendment to limit the governor’s authority to ribbon cutting at supermarket openings and presiding over Easter egg rolls?

  19. 19.

    mclaren

    @Thoughtful Today:

    Voting (D) means I’ve voted for a slew of increasingly right-wing Dems for … longer than I’d care to dwell on.

    This is why we all need to vote for Sanders in the Democratic primary. if necessary, write his name in. Otherwise the Democratic party will continue to drift farther and farther and farther right until we have a choice between a Democratic primary candidate who proposes impaling people in public, and another Democratic primary candidate who runs on the platform of eliminating the barrier between church and state.

  20. 20.

    mclaren

    Cthulhu emerged from the black depths of the Pacific Ocean and proceeded to answer questions about hot button issues such as gun control, Obamacare, and how to handle the growing threat of ISIS.

    Though the aquatic deity’s presence drove most of the reporters insane, a few were able to stave off the madness long enough to report that Cthulhu’s plan to handle ISIS involves unraveling the very fabric of reality. “Now that’s how you handle terrorists!” said FOX News commentator Bill O’ Reilly who was covering the conference by satellite. “Just wipe ’em all out of exist-” O’Reilly started to continue before the otherworldly timber of Cthulhu’s voice caused his head to burst like a rotten melon hitting pavement.

    CNN’s Anderson Cooper managed to ask the ancient entity what his thoughts were on health care before Cthulhu’s answer—he favors a universal system where everyone dies—caused him to melt into a puddle of viscous fluid.

    Cthulhu pleased conservatives and liberals alike when he promised to end both abortions and gun related casualties by turning everyone on Earth into pulpy heaps of charred flesh and sinew. The Great Cthulhu was oddly silent on the subjects of marriage equality and race relations, however it can be assumed that Cthulhu’s plans to annihilate all life in the universe is on an equal opportunity basis.

    Source: “Cthulhu Announces He’s Running For President, Promises To Eliminate ISIS By Destroying Reality,” Runt website, 12 July 2015.

    Remember, folks — big tent!

  21. 21.

    opiejeanne

    @mclaren: That was deeply satisfying for some reason.

    (“Timber” should be changed to “timbre”…gxxthulbjghahahhhahahahaha splot)

  22. 22.

    ThresherK (GPad)

    @Radio One: KY polls close at 6pm, an obscene feature (not bug) of keeping down working folks’ voting rates. LA polls closed later,something more normal, like 8pm.

    Genuine question: How do pollsters account for voter suppression tactics in states they’re used?

  23. 23.

    Kay

    Bel Edwards ran on supporting public education.

    Democrats might try that if they want to win state races.

    In short, few issues feature a bigger split between the two contenders for governor in the Nov. 21 runoff.
    “Night and day,” said Brigitte Nieland, who tracks public school issues for the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry.

  25. 25.

    Matt McIrvin

    If the shoe were on the other foot this would somehow be a grave repudiation of Obama and Hillary Clinton, so I say we take it.

  26. 26.

    Kay

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I would except Vitter seemed to be a particularly loathsome pol, ideology aside. It looks like he backdated a letter and sent it to the State Department so he could use it in an ad:

    On Friday afternoon, I contacted the U.S. State Department to ask about this letter (I would have contacted Vitter’s office, but his staff has long refused to respond to my calls and emails). Among other things, I wanted to know on what date the letter from Vitter was received.
    Here is what the State Department spokesperson told me in an email late Friday:
    “The State Department on Tuesday received the letter dated September 28 along with a separate November 17 letter. The Department appreciates the concerns expressed by Senator Vitter – as it does those concerns of his congressional colleagues – and we will respond directly.”

    He’s also responsible for the Vitter Amendment, which tried to take health insurance away from congressional staffers, some of whom make 25k a year. He did this for no other reason than to grandstand on Obamacare. He’s just a horrible person :)

  27. 27.

    Baud

    David Atkins

    And that itself is yet another indictment of Republican voters. David Vitter’s prostitution scandal is weird, creepy and untoward for a U.S. Senator. But a legislator’s fidelity and sexual proclivities have very little bearing on their job as a representative of the people, which is to protect the Constitution and do a responsible job providing the greatest good for the greatest number of constituents. Scapegoating refugees and denying medical care to hundreds of thousands are objectively both far greater moral crimes against common decency than a thousand trysts with sex workers. That the latter is illegal and the former is legal is a testament to the twisted moral value system perverted by puritan Calvinist ethics. Vitter should have been ousted for his overtly destructive public morality, not his far less consequential private failures.

    But that’s not how Republicans roll. In their world, causing the needless deaths of thousands is fair game. Having sex with the wrong person, on the other hand, is unforgivable.

    There may be a large number of people in this world who share that value system. But that doesn’t mean that those with a well-adjusted moral compass must respect it or grant it validity.

    Congrats to Edwards and Louisianians.

  29. 29.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    I disagree with that only because conservatives run on “family values”. I think it’s a matter of basic fairness that if one brings that in, they have to take the down side.

    It’s the thinking behind attacking wealthy liberals on NIMBY stuff. That’s not illegal either but it’s fair game because liberals bring in those issues.

  31. 31.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Right, but maybe the character issue is not infidelity so much as claiming to be something he’s not, or lying. The ad Bel Edwards ran was about infidelity but it was also about deceit- saying one thing and doing another.

  32. 32.

    Richard Mayhew

    @David Koch: but Butter may have paid someone else for that privilege… Think of the dominatrix who now needs to go on newly expanded Medicaid as she lost her most profitable client

  33. 33.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Sort of on that topic, this is great. He identifies the best family grouping to guarantee low poverty as five working adults:

    The saddest part of the traditional-family people taking over poverty discourse in such dishonest ways is that it obscures the much simpler reality about family poverty. In reality, differences in family poverty levels are mainly about differences in the number of family members that are economically active, i.e. what percentage of the family members are working and bringing home some labor income.

    The key to not being in poverty is 1. no dependents and 2. more working adults in the household, so why stop at marriage? Obviously we should all be living with 4 other adults :)

  34. 34.

    sherparick

    @Thoughtful Today: The worst Blue Dog Democrat these days is light years better than any Neo-Confederate Republican. Although I expect this was as much an Anti-Vitter, Anti-Jindal vote, it still is significant that large numbers of white working class and middle class voters were still able to vote for a Democrat as opposed to any generic sociopath with a Republican after his name. Louisiana of course is facing huge problems over the next 10 years as environmental chickens come home to roost and the Neo-Confederate Republicans still control most levers of the State Government and State wide offices.

  35. 35.

    Karen

    I think that this was against Vitter as much as it was pro Bel Edwards. He successfully used the prostitute past of Vitter as if it had happened yesterday instead of 8 years ago. Plus he was in the military and is pro gun and anti-abortion. They could vote for him and not feel like they were voting for a “liberal.”

  36. 36.

    NorthLeft12

    Describing Bobby Jindal as a “one time rising star” of anything, really, is all you need to know about the supposed “deep bench” of the Republican party.

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