The six-candidate race to become Louisiana’s next governor was trimmed Saturday with Republican Bobby Jindal and Democrat Kathleen Blanco voted into a runoff.
Jindal led all gubernatorial candidates with 32 percent of the vote, while Blanco secured the second runoff position with 18 percent. Blanco’s support was about 25,000 votes more than Democrat Richard Ieyoub for the second runoff position.
Jindal, the lone Republican candidate to receive more than 6 percent of the votes, is confident of his chances in the runoff.
“Six months ago when we started this (campaign) they said, ‘He can’t make a runoff.’ Recently they , ‘He can make a runoff, but he can’t win a runoff,'” Jindal said at his victory party in New Orleans. “I need your help so that on Thanksgiving they’re saying, ‘He can’t win re-election.'”
The Democratic vote was spread over four candidates: Blanco, Ieyoub, Buddy Leach and Randy Ewing, who received 18, 16, 14 and 9 percent of the votes, respectively.
Blanco, the former lieutenant governor, said the voter support for Jindal and herself speaks volumes about Louisiana’s concern for change.
“You have a Cajun woman against an Asian man,” Blanco said at her Lafayette reception. “This really speaks that Louisiana is really ready for a major change.”
Education and economic development are at the top of both Jindal’s and Blanco’s priority lists.
Both candidates spoke on the state’s brain drain problem in a recent Reveille article.
Blanco said she plans to use a hard, consistent public relations initiative to entice businesses back to Louisiana.
“A lot of our success stories have not been successfully told,” she said. “That’s a piece of marketing and public relations.”
Jindal said aside from the taxes, the time it takes to build businesses in Louisiana needs to change.
Louisiana is at the top of the nation for the number of patents issued to residents, but at the bottom of the list for manufacturing products, Jindal said.
“If we build on strengths, we can improve the economy,” he said. “If we create our own projects, we can add jobs.”
Absentee voting for the runoff election begins Nov. 3 and ends Nov. 8. The runoff election will be held Saturday, Nov. 15. Students can vote absentee either by mail or in person.
Absentee voting will be conducted in person from 12 to 6 days prior to the scheduled election at local registrar’s offices.
To receive a ballot to vote absentee by mail, students must send a letter to the local registrar’s office stating their name and the reason that they are not able to vote either in person absentee or in person on election day.
In other statewide elections, Democrat Mitch Landrieu won the lieutenant governor race, and Democrat Charles Foti defeated Republican Suzanne Haik Terrell for attorney general.