Jindal cruises to 2nd term Three runoffs in Madison Parish
Published 12:03 am Sunday, October 23, 2011
BATON ROUGE, La. — Gov. Bobby Jindal coasted to a second term, winning in a landslide election Saturday after failing to attract any well-known or well-funded opposition to oust the popular Republican from office.
Jindal, 40, overwhelmed a field of nine competitors in the open primary. He had nearly 67 percent of the vote with three quarters of Louisiana’s precincts reporting.
Five of Louisiana’s seven statewide offices were on the ballot, with the most heavily contested races between Republicans vying to be lieutenant governor and secretary of state.
Incumbent Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne defeated Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser in a race that focused on bitter attacks. Secretary of State Tom Schedler was locked in a tight contest with House Speaker Jim Tucker with Schedler in the lead late Saturday night.
In Madison Parish, incumbent Democrat Sheriff Larry G. Cox, who received 2,484 votes, or 74 percent, defeated Democrat Johnnie Henderson, who received 887 votes, or 26 percent.
For Police Juror in District 2, incumbent Independent Stanley Ogden, who received 288 votes, or 56 percent, defeated Republican Randy Morgan, who had 223 votes, or 44 percent.
For Assessor, incumbent Democrat Jim D. Sevier, who received 2,089, or 63 percent, defeated Democrat Paxton Branch, who had 1,235 votes, or 37 percent.
There will be three runoff elections on Nov. 19 for Police Jurors in districts 3, 4 and 5.
In District 3, Democrat Patricia “Pat” Buchanan, who had 270 votes, or 34 percent, will take on Democrat Thomas “Joe” Williams, who had 204 votes, or 26 percent.
In District 4, Independent James J. Griffin, who garnered 231 votes, or 31 percent, will face Independent C.J. Oney, who had 184 votes, or 26 percent.
In District 5, Democrat Jane Gladys Sanders, who had 351 votes, or 45 percent, will take on Democrat Bessie Lee, who 286 votes, or 37 percent of the votes.
Runoffs are needed if a candidate does not receive 50 percent-plus one vote.
In other statewide competitions, Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon and Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain, both Republicans, won re-election, after drawing opposition from little-known candidates who had raised few dollars to campaign against them.
At the top of the ballot was the governor’s race.
Jindal’s leading challenger, Tara Hollis, a Democrat from north Louisiana, was an outsider to the political establishment and was unable to drum up the cash needed to challenge Jindal or mount a big-ticket advertising competition.
The governor celebrated his re-election with LSU football coach Les Miles, who was rejoicing his team’s explosive victory over Auburn earlier in the day. Comparing the two wins. Jindal told the crowd, “You haven’t seen anything yet.”
“We’ve got a lot more work to do over these next four years. We’ve got to grow our economy even more quickly. We’ve got to reform our education system more aggressively to give our kids the best chance. We’ve got to squeeze all the waste out of government and make it work for the citizens,” he said.