Dem wins Louisiana governor’s election

Completing a longshot bid that ran counter to the conservative tide sweeping the Southern states, Democratic state Rep. John Bel Edwards was elected governor of Louisiana on Saturday, defeating his Republican rival, U.S. Sen. David Vitter.

With 1,800 out of 3,945 precincts reporting, Edwards led Vitter 55 percent to 45 percent, prompting the Edwards campaign to declare victory late Saturday.

The race had narrowed substantially in recent days, with Vitter using concerns over plans to settle Syrian refugees in the state to hammer his Democratic opponent. Edwards struck back in ads saying that Vitter had missed several key hearings on the Syrian crisis while serving in the Senate.

For Vitter, the dust-up was a welcome chance to refocus a race that had largely dealt with his character rather than his political positions. Edwards repeatedly contrasted his record as a West Point graduate and former officer with the 82nd Airborne Division to Vitter’s involvement in a 2007 Washington prostitution scandal. Edwards also sought to tie Vitter closely to Bobby Jindal, the state’s unpopular two-term Republican governor, and he touted his opposition to abortion and strong support for gun ownership.

Vitter countered with his own advertising barrage linking Edwards to President Obama, whose unpopularity in the state rivals Jindal’s. Vitter emphasized his record as a conservative opponent of the administration on issues such as the health care, immigration and law enforcement.

The success of Edwards’s run caught much of the state’s political establishment by surprise. Louisiana has not had a Democrat elected to statewide office since 2008. In 2014, threeterm Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu was soundly beaten by Bill Cassidy, a relatively unknown Republican congressman.