By winning the election outright in the primary, Governor Elect Jeff Landry joins Huey Long, Buddy Roemer and Bobby Jindal as Louisiana’s only chief-executives to win their initial election to the governor’s mansion. ULM Political Science Professor Pearson Cross says it’s a surprising result, but obviously it was possible.
“We knew that Republicans can win in the first round of a gubernatorial election going back to Bobby Jindal, but it hasn’t happened in a awhile and we got out of the habit it could happen, but it has happened again,” said Cross.
Landry received 52% of the vote, Democrat Shawn Wilson 26% and everyone else was in single digits. Cross says none of the other candidates made a persuasive case to be Louisiana’s next governor.
“I think Jeff Landry had the name recognition, he had the money, he had the advertising, I think Democrats were very uninvolved in this election, they were not energized, the energy was on the Republicans’ side,” said Cross.
By winning the election now, it gives Landry an extra month to prepare to take over as Louisiana’s 57th governor. He will have more time to set up his administration, but Cross says he’s probably ready to move into the governor’s mansion today.
“Let’s not kid ourself, Jeff Landry has been thinking about being governor for quite awhile, so I’m sure he has lots of ideas and he’s thought about this and he’s planning this and he’ll be hitting the ground running no doubt,” said Cross.
Landry will be sworn in on January 8th, 2024.
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