The 2011 Louisiana gubernatorial election was held on October 22 with 10 candidates competing in a

nonpartisan blanket primary A nonpartisan primary, top-two primary, or jungle primary is a primary election in which all candidates for the same elected office run against each other at once, regardless of political party. This distinguishes them from partisan primaries, w ...

. Incumbent Republican

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. A member of the Republican Party, Jindal previously served as a U.S. representative from Louisiana from 2005 t ...

won a second term. Since he won an outright majority of the vote in the blanket primary, a runoff election that would have otherwise occurred on November 19 was unnecessary. This was the last time until

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

that a Republican was elected governor of Louisiana and that a Louisiana governor election was decided without a runoff.

Background

Elections in

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

, with the exception of U.S. presidential elections (and

congressional A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ad ...

races in 2008 and 2010), follow a variation of the

open primary Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pri ...

system called the jungle primary. 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% 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. This scenario occurred in the 7th District congressional race in 1996, when Democrats Chris John and Hunter Lundy made the runoff for the open seat, and in 1999, when Republicans Suzanne Haik Terrell and Woody Jenkins made the runoff for Commissioner of Elections.

Candidates

On December 10, 2008, Jindal indicated that he would not run for president in 2012, saying he would focus on his reelection and that this would make transitioning to a national campaign difficult, though he later attempted to leave himself the opportunity to change his mind in the future. Minister Dan Northcutt (I) was the only declared challenger to Jindal, but he eventually dropped out of the race.
On October 22, Caroline Fayard's name surfaced on talk radio, talk-radio program ''Think Tank with

Garland Robinette Charles Garland Robinette (born August 21, 1943 in Boutte, Louisiana) is a journalist in the New Orleans area. He was recently the host of "The Think Tank" on New Orleans radio station WWL (AM). Robinette was a news anchor and investigative repo ...

'', as a potential competitor for Jindal in his reelection campaign. The discussants cited Jindal's high approval ratings and already in-the-bank $7 million campaign fund as unapproachable assets for Democrats other than Fayard, who at the time of the program was seeking the office of

lieutenant governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

in a

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

runoff against Republican secretary of state

Jay Dardenne John Leigh "Jay" Dardenne, Jr. (born February 6, 1954) is an American lawyer and politician from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who served as commissioner of administration for Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards. A Republican, Dardenne previously se ...

Republicans

, incumbent

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Democrats

Announced

* Cary Deaton, attorney * Tara Hollis, special education teacher * Androniki "Niki Bird" Papazoglakis, director for

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; , ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It had a population of 227,470 at the 2020 United States census, making it List of municipalities in Louisiana, Louisiana's second-m ...

-based victim advocacy group * Ivo "Trey" Roberts, high school teacher

Declined

* Al Ater, former Louisiana secretary of state *

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 2004 to 2008. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the first and, to date, only wom ...

, former governor * Caroline Fayard, attorney and

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor of Louisiana *

John Georges John Georges () (born October 16, 1960) is an American businessman from New Orleans, who owns Louisiana's two largest newspapers and online news sites. He formerly served on the Louisiana Board of Regents, the body which supervises higher educa ...

, businessman, 2007 Independent candidate for governor, unsuccessful candidate for Mayor of New Orleans in

* Robert M. Marionneaux, state senator

Ineligible

* Edwin Edwards, former four-term governor. Wanted to contest election following 10-year prison term for racketeering and illegally selling casino licenses, but was not pardoned
/ref>

Libertarian

* Scott Lewis, former candidate for Louisiana secretary of state

Independents

* David Blanchard, former employee of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals * Leonard "Lenny" Bollingham, Computer Engineer & Businessman * Ron Caesar * William Robert "Bob" Lang, unsuccessful candidate for the U.S. Senate in

Dropped out

* Dan Northcutt, minister

General election

Predictions

Results

References

Ballotpedia Ballotpedia is a nonprofit and nonpartisan online political encyclopedia that covers federal, state, and local politics, elections, and public policy in the United States. The website was founded in 2007. Ballotpedia is sponsored by the Lucy Bur ...

Louisiana Governor Candidates
at

Project Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is an American non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected offic ...

Campaign contributions for 2011 Louisiana Governor
from ''Follow the Money''

from OurCampaigns.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Louisiana Gubernatorial Election, 2011

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

2011 United States gubernatorial elections November 2011 in the United States