2003 Louisiana gubernatorial election
![]() | This article includes a improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (September 2013) ) |
![]() | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Blanco: 20–30% 30–40% 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% Jindal: 20–30% 30–40% 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% Ieyoub: 20–30% 30–40% Leach: 20–30% 30–40% 50–60% Ewing: 30–40% 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% Downer: 20–30% 40–50% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Elections in Louisiana |
---|
![]() |
![]() |
The 2003 Louisiana gubernatorial election was held on November 15, 2003 to elect the
As of 2024, this is the most recent Louisiana gubernatorial election in which the winner of the first round did not win the runoff, and the last time the governorships of Louisiana and neighboring Mississippi simultaneously flipped to the opposite political party.
Background
Elections in Louisiana—with the exception of U.S. presidential elections—follow a variation of the
Candidates
Democrats
- anti-abortionDemocrat, hoping to appeal to enough Republican voters to enter the runoff over her Democratic rivals.
- Attorney General Richard Ieyoub of Lake Charles had endorsements from labor and from the Louisiana Sheriffs Association, and had the most campaign contributions of any candidate. His campaign strategy was to try to secure the votes of the Democrats' traditional base: labor, African-Americans, and teachers and professional groups.
- Anthony Claude "Buddy" Leach, Jr., of Leesville and Lake Charlesspent a large amount of his own money on the campaign. Leach ran a liberal populist campaign which included promises of minimum wage increases and of teacher raises and social programs funded by a new oil-processing tax.
- Former state Senate President Randy Ewing of Quitman ran on a reform platform. Ewing was endorsed by New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin in the primary, and had a significant base in north Louisiana.
- Former state Senator J. E. Jumonville, Jr. of Ventress ran on a platform of cutting the severance tax as well as lowering the taxes on barrels of oil produced in state. He also took an uncharacteristic stance of a Democrat in advocating the placing of the Ten Commandments in all the parish courthouses and in the State Capitol. A former sixteen-year veteran of the state Senate, Jumonville self-funded his race but couldn't seem to gain traction as he started way too late in the race.
Republicans
- Murphy J. "Mike" Foster, Jr.His policy experience and educational background made him a natural fit among suburban and business-oriented Republicans, and he made a strong effort to reach out to rural conservatives.
- Former state House Speaker Huntington B. Downer, Jr., of Houma, a brigadier general in the National Guard. Downer had the support of several prominent Republican politicians, but his campaign never caught on with large sections of the public.
- Public Service Commissioner Jack A. "Jay" Blossman, Jr., ran a series of provocative campaign ads designed to appeal to social conservatives, but he failed to gain much support in preliminary polls. He dropped out of the race a week before the primary and endorsed Hunt Downer.
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
Jungle Primary Results
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Republican | Bobby Jindal | 443,389 | 32.54 | |
Democratic | Kathleen Blanco | 250,136 | 18.36 | |
Democratic | Richard Ieyoub | 223,513 | 16.4 | |
Democratic | Claude "Buddy" Leach
|
187,872 | 13.79 | |
Democratic | Randy Ewing | 123,936 | 9.10 | |
Republican | Hunt Downer | 84,718 | 6.22 | |
Democratic | J. E. Jumonville, Jr. | 13,410 | 1.25 | |
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 | |
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 | |
Total votes | 1,362,524 | 100.00 |
Runoff results
The race was close, with Blanco prevailing by almost 4%. Blanco won a huge majority of
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Kathleen Blanco | 731,358 | 51.95% | |
Republican | Bobby Jindal | 676,484 | 48.05% | |
Total votes | 1,407,842 | 100.00% | ||
Democratic gain from Republican |
Sources
- Louisiana 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.