Governor John Bel Edwards, November 16, 2020.
Governor John Bel Edwards survived a difficult re-election campaign beating Republican challenger Eddie Rispone by two percentage points. Rispone poured millions of dollars of his own money into the campaign and President Trump made multiple visits to the state on his behalf. But Edwards says this was always a race about Louisiana issues.
“I have never been more hopeful that Louisiana’s best days are ahead because we have proven what we could when we put people over politics,” said Edwards.
Edwards remains the only Democratic governor in the Deep South. During his first four years, the former state lawmaker from Amite expanded the state’s Medicaid program, approved a criminal justice reform package that had the support of Republicans. Edwards looks forward to the next four years.
“We’re going to improve the health outcomes of Louisianians and we are going to continue advancing major infrastructure projects and we will continue to fight for an increase in the minimum wage,” said Edwards.
Rispone says despite the hard-fought loss the Republican Party has nothing to be ashamed of.
“We had over 700,000 people in Louisiana really want something better and something different,” said Rispone.
Rispone’s main platform during the campaign was to improve Louisiana’s standing and make it the best state in the south. He says that remains the goal.
“God has blessed this state and we know it, we have such an incredible state here, we got to continue to work to try to make it what it should be,” said Rispone.
