1991 Louisiana downballot races

[RBH]

On the left is the primary held in October 1991, and on the right if the general election held in November 1991.

Lt. Governor:



Schwegmann led Hardy 42.9-42.6 in the primary and beat him 59-41 in the second round.

Secretary of State



McKeithen led 46-28 over Schmidt with 26% for Chehardy (a Democrat), and he won 50.3-49.7 in the runoff.

I'd imagine that a comparison of Bagert/Ieyoub Attorney General maps would be similarly ugly, since Ieyoub won the runoff 69/31 after leading Bagert by a 31/22 margin in the first round.

In other words, David Duke being on the top of the ballot really dragged down the other Republicans.

[Gabu]

Lt. Governor:



Schwegmann led Hardy 42.9-42.6 in the primary and beat him 59-41 in the second round.

Why on Earth did Hardy's percentage go down when the number of candidates was reduced?

[RBH]

Republicans probably didn't go out to vote because of the Duke/Edwards election, and they inadvertantly sank Hardy a bit more.

Here's the maps for the primary and runoff in the Attorney General's race.



Ieyoub led 31/22 in the primary and won 69/31.

The Democrat/Republican split in the primary was 68/32 for the Democratic candidates.

[True Democrat]

When two Democrats or two Republicans finish first, have they ever chosen to run against each other in the general?

[RBH]

I'm pretty sure that Democrat/Democrat matchups have happened a lot.

For example, John Kennedy (D) defeated incumbent treasurer Ken Duncan (D) in the first round (they were the only candidates for the post).

As well, Chris John defeated a Democrat in a runoff in 1996 to win a Congress seat.

The first Republican/Republican statewide matchup in the Jungle Primary was between Woody Jenkins and Suzanne Haik Terrell in 1999.

[Adlai Stevenson]

1991 was the election in which every well known Republican endorsed Edwards, including Ronald Reagan and George Bush.