MATTHEW BOYLE of Brietbart.com
Republican Jeff Landry won a landslide election on Saturday to flip the Louisiana governor’s mansion red in one of three main gubernatorial elections this year, shocking political observers with a victory that saves him the trouble of having to face a Democrat in a November runoff.
Landry defeated Democrat Shawn Wilson and the rest of the field in Louisiana’s gubernatorial election, winning about 52 percent of the vote. In Louisiana, governor elections are first open to a full field of all candidates from either party in what is known as a jungle primary—and then the two top vote-getters generally advance to a runoff a month later. But if a candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote, as Landry did here, they can win outright on jungle primary day.
Many were expecting Landry, the clear and convincing frontrunner who has been the Attorney General of Louisiana for many years after a stint in Congress, to easily advance to the runoff and face Wilson in November. But his overwhelmingly strong performance on Saturday put him above majority support as the Associated Press called the race with him easily north of the 50 percent mark, meaning Landry will be the next governor of Louisiana.