2011 Louisiana gubernatorial election


The 2011 Louisiana gubernatorial election was held on October 22 with 10 candidates competing in a nonpartisan blanket primary. Incumbent Republican Bobby Jindal 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 that a Republican was elected governor of Louisiana and that a Louisiana governor election was decided without a runoff.

Background

Elections in Louisiana, with the exception of U.S. presidential elections, follow a variation of the open primary 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 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 program Think Tank with Garland Robinette, 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 in a special election runoff against Republican secretary of state Jay Dardenne.

Republicans

Democrats

Announced

Declined

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

Libertarian

  • Scott Lewis, former candidate for Louisiana secretary of state

Independents

Dropped out

  • Dan Northcutt, minister