The 2003 Louisiana gubernatorial election was held on November 15, 2003 to elect the
Governor of Louisiana
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
. Incumbent
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
Governor
Mike Foster was not eligible to run for re-election to a third term because of
term limits
A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms an officeholder may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potenti ...
established by the
Louisiana Constitution
The Louisiana Constitution is legally named the Constitution of the State of Louisiana and commonly called the Louisiana Constitution of 1974, and the Constitution of 1974. The constitution is the cornerstone of the law of Louisiana ensuring the ...
.
As of 2021, this is the most recent Louisiana gubernatorial election in which the winner of the first round did not win the runoff.
Background
Elections in Louisiana—with the exception of U.S. presidential elections—follow a variation of the
open primary
Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...
system called the
jungle primary
A nonpartisan blanket primary is a primary election in which all candidates for the same elected office run against each other at once, regardless of the political party. Partisan elections are, on the other hand, segregated by political party ...
. Candidates of any and all parties are listed on one ballot; voters need not limit themselves to the candidates of one party. Unless one candidate takes more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round, a run-off election is then held between the top two candidates, who may in fact be members of the same party. In this election, the first round of voting was held on October 4, 2003, and the runoff was held on November 15, 2003.
Candidates
Democrats
*
Kathleen Blanco
Kathleen Marie Blanco (née Babineaux; December 15, 1942 – August 18, 2019) was an American politician who served as the 54th Governor of Louisiana from January 2004 to January 2008. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the first and, ...
of
Lafayette
Lafayette or La Fayette may refer to:
People
* Lafayette (name), a list of people with the surname Lafayette or La Fayette or the given name Lafayette
* House of La Fayette, a French noble family
** Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757â ...
had led the high-profile growth of the state's tourism industry in her two terms as Lieutenant Governor. Blanco ran as a conservative
anti-abortion
Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respons ...
Democrat, hoping to appeal to enough Republican voters to enter the runoff over her Democratic rivals.
*Attorney General
Richard Ieyoub of
Lake Charles had endorsements from labor and from the Louisiana Sheriffs Association, and had the most campaign contributions of any candidate. His campaign strategy was to try to secure the votes of the Democrats' traditional base: labor, African-Americans, and teachers and professional groups.
*
Anthony Claude "Buddy" Leach, Jr., of
Leesville and
Lake Charles spent a large amount of his own money on the campaign. Leach ran a liberal populist campaign which included promises of minimum wage increases and of teacher raises and social programs funded by a new oil-processing tax.
*Former state Senate President
Randy Ewing
Randy is a given name, popular in the United States and Canada. It is primarily a masculine name. It was originally derived from the names Randall (given name), Randall, Randolf (given name), Randolf, Randolph (given name), Randolph, as well as ...
of
Quitman ran on a reform platform. Ewing was endorsed by
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin
Clarence Raymond Joseph Nagin Jr. (born June 11, 1956) is an American former politician who was the 60th Mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana, from 2002 to 2010. A Democrat, Nagin became internationally known in 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane K ...
in the primary, and had a significant base in north Louisiana.
*Former state Senator
J. E. Jumonville, Jr. of
Ventress ran on a platform of cutting the severance tax as well as lowering the taxes on barrels of oil produced in state. He also took an uncharacteristic stance of a Democrat in advocating the placing of the Ten Commandments in all the parish courthouses and in the State Capitol. A former sixteen-year veteran of the state Senate, Jumonville self-funded his race but couldn't seem to gain traction as he started way too late in the race.
Republicans
*
Bobby Jindal
Piyush "Bobby" Jindal (born June 10, 1971) is an American politician who served as the 55th Governor of Louisiana from 2008 to 2016. The only living former Louisiana governor, Jindal also served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives a ...
of
Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-sma ...
, the state Secretary of Health and Hospitals. He received early support from departing Governor
Murphy J. "Mike" Foster, Jr. His policy experience and educational background made him a natural fit among suburban and business-oriented Republicans, and he made a strong effort to reach out to rural conservatives.
*Former state House Speaker
Huntington B. Downer, Jr., of
Houma, a brigadier general in the National Guard. Downer had the support of several prominent Republican politicians, but his campaign never caught on with large sections of the public.
*Public Service Commissioner
Jack A. "Jay" Blossman, Jr., ran a series of provocative campaign ads designed to appeal to social conservatives, but he failed to gain much support in preliminary polls. He dropped out of the race a week before the primary and endorsed Hunt Downer.
Campaign
Departing Governor Foster was disqualified from succeeding himself for a third term by Louisiana's constitution, so the 2003 race was perceived as wide open and saw a large number of candidates enter the campaign. The primary phase of the campaign was characterized by the large number of strong Democratic contenders. Ieyoub was seen as one of the strongest Democratic candidates throughout the campaign, and only narrowly lost a slot in the runoff to Blanco, who had a strong base of support in the Acadian parishes and among women voters. The efforts of Leach to appeal to the same base as Ieyoub led them to split the Democratic vote and to come in third and fourth.
The leading Republican candidate, by contrast, was chosen fairly early on. Jindal took a commanding lead among Republican supporters early in the campaign, leaving Hunt Downer far behind.
In the runoff, Jindal received endorsements from the New Orleans
Times-Picayune
''The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate'' is an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana, since January 25, 1837. The current publication is the result of the 2019 acquisition of ''The Times-Picayune'' (itself a result of th ...
(the largest paper in Louisiana), New Orleans Mayor Nagin (who had supported Ewing in the primary but declined to endorse Blanco in the runoff), and outgoing Republican Governor Mike Foster. Some political analysts believe that his narrow loss was partly due to racism. Other political analysts have blamed Jindal for his refusal to answer questions about his record brought up in several ads, which the Jindal campaign called "negative attack ads", the most effective of which denounced his health care plan. Still others note that a significant number of conservative Louisianans remained more comfortable voting for a conservative Democrat than for a Republican. The runoff between Bobby Jindal and Kathleen Blanco brought two 'firsts' for Louisiana political history. If elected, Jindal would have been the United States' first Indian-American governor (which he did 4 years later). The victorious Blanco became Louisiana's first woman governor. She was also the second woman to have been lieutenant governor.
Results
First voting round, October 4
Runoff, November 15
The race was close, with Blanco prevailing by almost 4%. Blanco won a huge majority of
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
's parishes, however, Jindal was able to keep Blanco's margin of victory in the single digits with a strong performance in
Jefferson Parish Jefferson may refer to:
Names
* Jefferson (surname)
* Jefferson (given name)
People
* Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), third president of the United States
* Jefferson (footballer, born 1970), full name Jefferson Tomaz de Souza, Brazilian foo ...
and
St. Tammany Parish
St. Tammany Parish (french: Paroisse de Saint-Tammany) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana named after Tamanend, the legendary Lenape Chief of Chiefs and the "Patron Saint of America." At the 2020 census, the population was 2 ...
, plus a narrow win in
East Baton Rouge Parish
East Baton Rouge Parish (french: Paroisse de Bâton Rouge Est) is the most populous parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2010 U.S. census, its population was 440,171, and 456,781 at the 2020 census. The parish seat is Baton Rouge, ...
. It was ultimately
home of
that insured a Blanco victory, though her 68.3% victory here was much smaller than
Al Gore
Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...
's 76% in the
2000 presidential election. This was the closest gubernatorial election since 1979, and there would not be another close gubernatorial race in Louisiana until 2019.
Sources
, Louisiana Secretary of State Elections Division. Official Election Results Database
* Parent, Wayne. ''Inside the Carnival: Unmasking Louisiana Politics.'' LSU Press, 2004.
* ''The New Orleans Times-Picayune.'' "Jindal takes easy lead heading into runoff." October 5, 2003.
{{United States elections, 2003
2003
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Gubernatorial
A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political_regions, political region, ranking under the Head of State, head of state and in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of ...
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...