Louisiana primary voters have been heard across the nation.
Rick Santorum won the state’s Republican presidential primary Saturday with 49.07 percent of the vote, while Mitt Romney followed in second with 26.62 percent, according to results from the Louisiana Secretary of State.
“The results show Rick Santorum’s conservative message strongly resonated with Louisiana Republican voters,” said Roger Villere Jr., chairman of the Republican Party of Louisiana, in a news release. “Louisiana Republicans clearly want a conservative alternative to Barack Obama.”
Under the rules of the Republican Party of Louisiana and the Republican National Committee, candidates must win at least 25 percent of the primary vote in order to receive delegates.
Santorum won 10 of Louisiana’s 20 uncommitted delegates, and Romney won five.
Since Newt Gingrich earned 15.92 percent of the vote and Ron Paul won 6.15 percent, they will not receive any delegates.
The remaining five delegates will remain uncommitted until the National Convention in August.
Saturday’s election drew 185,724 voters, a spike of more than 20,000 from the 161,169 Republicans who voted in the 2008 presidential primary, according to a news release from the Republican Party of Louisiana.
The two primary voting sites nearest to campus were the LSU Lab School on Dalrymple Drive and the University Terrace Elementary School on West Roosevelt Street.
Jason Doré, executive director of the Republican Party of Louisiana, said the Louisiana primary was “definitely a big win for Santorum, but Romney is still in a good position.”
“[Romney] hasn’t clinched the nomination by far yet,” he said. “There’s still a ways yet to go.”
Following Santorum’s significant win in the state, the former Pennsylvania senator said he feels confident in continuing on in the race against Romney.
“A lot of folks are saying this race is over,” Santorum said to CBS news chief White House correspondent Norah O’Donnell. “The people in Louisiana said, ‘No, it’s not,’ and they still want to see someone who they can trust, someone who’s not running an Etch A Sketch campaign, but one that … has their principles written on their heart – not on an erasable tablet.”
Doré said last week’s polling showed Santorum held a significant lead in the state, but he didn’t expect Santorum to win by such a large margin.
Following Santorum’s success in Alabama and Mississippi, Doré contributed Santorum’s success to the “bandwagon effect in politics” and his visits to the state in recent weeks.
 
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Contact Kate Mabry at [email protected]