This was the first lieutenant gubernatorial election held after the adoption of the Louisiana primary in 1978.[1] Elections in Louisiana—with the exception of U.S. presidential elections—follow a variation of the open primary system called the jungle primary or the nonpartisan blanket 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. Texas uses this same format for its special elections. In this election, the first round of voting was held on October 27, 1979. The runoff was held on December 8, 1979.[2]
On election day, December 8, 1979, Democratic candidate Robert Louis Freeman Sr. defeated fellow Democratic candidate Jim Donelon by a margin of 43,566 votes, thereby retaining Democratic control over the office of lieutenant governor. Freeman was sworn in as the 47th Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana on March 10, 1980.[4]
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