After leaving office, Edwards joined the New Orleans–based law firm Fishman Haygood LLP, where his practice focuses primarily on renewable energy litigation.[5]
Early life and education
John Bel Edwards was born in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, on September 16, 1966.[6] He was raised in Amite, Louisiana, the son of Dora Jean (née Miller) and Tangipahoa ParishSheriff Frank M. Edwards, Jr. Born into an economically and politically well-established family in the parish, he graduated from Amite High School in 1984 as valedictorian.
Edwards went on to become a practicing attorney with the Edwards & Associates law firm in Amite.[8] He handled a variety of cases, but did not practice criminal law because his brother was the local sheriff.[7] His nephew, Bradley Stevens, worked at the firm as a law partner.[9]
Louisiana House of Representatives
In 2007, Edwards ran for a seat in the Louisiana House of Representatives and was forced into a general election runoff with fellow attorney George Tucker.[10] Edwards won every parish in the district.[11] He was the only freshman lawmaker to chair a committee, the Veterans Affairs Committee, in the legislature. Edwards was also selected as chair of the Democratic House caucus, a rarity for a freshman legislator. Edwards criticized GovernorBobby Jindal for his frequent trips away from Louisiana to raise funds for Republicans elsewhere while Louisiana had been reducing its funding for higher education.[citation needed]
In 2011, Edwards was reelected to the Louisiana House of Representatives, defeating Johnny Duncan, 83% to 17%.[12] He chaired the Louisiana House Democratic Caucus, making him the House Minority Leader.[13] Cities and towns that Edwards represented included Amite, Greensburg, and Kentwood as well as part of Hammond.
On February 21, 2013, Edwards announced his candidacy for governor in 2015. He said that Louisiana needed "a healthy dose of common sense and compassion for ordinary people".[14] The only major Democrat in the race, Edwards polled first in the nonpartisan blanket primary with 444,517 votes (39.9%), followed by Vitter, who finished second with 256,300 votes (23%). In third place was Louisiana Public Service CommissionerScott Angelle of Breaux Bridge, who received 214,982 votes (19.3%).[15]
A JMC Analytics poll before the primary showed Edwards with a nine-point lead over Vitter, 28% to 19%.[16] After the primary polls showed Edwards with a commanding lead. Market Research Insight pollster Verne Kennedy placed Edwards ahead, 54% to 38% or 51% to 40%, depending on the level of turnout among African-American voters, 25% or 20%.[17]
Edwards won the November 21 runoff with 56.1% of the vote.[18]The New York Times noted that the gubernatorial race was one "that many other Democrats once considered hopeless" early in the cycle.[19]
In 2019, Edwards ran for reelection to a second term as governor. In the runoff election, he faced Republican businessman Eddie Rispone. As Louisiana voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump in the 2016 election, the race drew national attention after Trump visited the state multiple times on Rispone's behalf.[20]
Portrait of Edwards in 2013
Edwards ultimately defeated Rispone, 51.33% to 48.67%. His victory made him the first Democratic governor of Louisiana to be elected to a second consecutive term in over four decades, since Edwin Edwards in 1975.[21]
Tenure
Edwards meeting with Louisiana National Guardsmen in Ponchatoula, Louisiana, March 2016Edwards speaking at a press conference in Lafayette, Louisiana, August 2016Edwards meeting with PresidentDonald Trump in April 2020Edwards meeting with President Joe Biden in September 2021
On his inauguration day, Edwards failed to persuade the majority-Republican Louisiana House to choose a Democrat, Walt Leger III of New Orleans, as Speaker. On the second ballot, after Republican Cameron Henry, an ally of Vitter, withdrew from consideration, a second Republican, Taylor Barras of New Iberia, was named Speaker. Since Huey Long, governors had traditionally handpicked the state house speakers. Barras's selection was considered a surprise because he had not been mentioned as a candidate until the voting started.[22]
On April 13, 2016, Edwards signed an executive order to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people from harassment or job dismissals. The order prohibits state agencies from discrimination based on either gender identity or sexual orientation. The order allows an exception for religious organizations that claim that compliance would violate their religious beliefs. "We respect our fellow citizens for their beliefs, but we do not discriminate based on our disagreements. I believe in giving every Louisianan the opportunity to be successful and to thrive in our state", Edwards said.[23]
Edwards also rescinded another executive order issued in 2015 by his predecessor, Bobby Jindal, which protected businesses and nonprofit organizations that oppose same-sex marriage from being legally punished for acting on those views. This order had prohibited state agencies from penalizing businesses and individuals who refuse or limit service because of a "religious belief that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman."[24]
In 2016, Edwards enacted Medicaid expansion. By the next year, the number of Louisianans without health insurance was cut in half (11.4%, down from 22.7%).[25] According to a study conducted by LSU's E.J. Ourso College of Business, Edwards's Medicaid expansion made over 500,000 more adults eligible for Medicaid, of whom 327,000 were uninsured.[26]
Edwards promised early in 2017 that he could work with the incoming Donald Trump administration. He expressed eagerness to work with the Trump Cabinet, particularly on Medicaid expansion and federal infrastructure projects.[27]
In January 2017, Edwards traveled to Italy on a personal trip to discuss ways to combat human trafficking. He traveled with members of the Hospitaller Sisters of Mercy, who established a shelter in Baton Rouge for child victims of human trafficking. Edwards met with Pope Francis during the trip.[28][29]
Edwards campaigned on a policy to reduce Louisiana's prison population.[30] One of his first actions as governor was to commute 22 sentences out of 56 that the state's Board of Pardons had identified for him.[30] Since the end of 2016 and to July 2018, Edwards did not sign a single commutation despite at least 70 cases that the state's Board of Pardons identified for him during the period.[30] In 2018, Edwards signed legislation that shortened the sentences for nonviolent, non-sex-crime offenders who showed good behavior while in prison.[31]
In May 2018, Edwards signed a bill into law banning abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.[32][33] In May 2019, he signed an even more restrictive six-week abortion ban, although a similar bill in the 5th Circuit, one with a similar predecessor, was blocked by Judge Carlton Reeves in the Southern District of Mississippi.[34][35][36] In response to backlash from his more progressive supporters, Edwards released a statement saying, "As governor, I have been true to my word and my beliefs on this issue. But it is also my sincere belief that being pro-life means more than just being pro-birth." He referenced his attempts to expand investment in education, reform Louisiana's criminal justice system, pass laws to protect LGBT citizens from discrimination in the workplace, raise the minimum wage, and ensure equal pay for men and women.[37][bettersourceneeded]
At the end of 2018, Edwards said that his top priority for 2019 was to achieve a $1,000 pay raise for teachers and a $500 raise for school support workers. For the first time in 10 years, the House passed a budget that included pay raises for teachers and support staff.[38][39]
On September 8, 2021, Edwards delayed all upcoming Louisiana elections five weeks after excessive statewide infrastructure damage caused by Hurricane Ida.[40] On September 12, 2021, less than two weeks after Ida crested, Edwards declared another statewide state of emergency in anticipation of Hurricane Nicholas.[41] On January 5, 2022, Edwards pardoned Homer Plessy, subject of the 1896 U.S. Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson, which upheld segregation laws.[42]
In 2023, Edwards signed HB8, which requires public schools to display the national motto "In God We Trust" in classrooms.[43]
Edwards and his wife, Donna Hutto Edwards, at a fundraising event in 2015
Edwards is married to Donna Hutto.[47] She graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg with a business degree in industrial management before training as a teacher.[48] They have two daughters, Sarah and Samantha Edwards, and a son, John Miller Edwards.
Edwards is a Catholic[29] and a parishioner of the St. Helena Roman Catholic Church in Amite.[49]
Edwards is the brother of Independence, Louisiana, chief of police Frank Millard Edwards, as well as Tangipahoa ParishSheriff Daniel H. Edwards. Edwards is brother-in-law to 21st Judicial District Court Juvenile Judge Blair Downing Edwards, a Republican. In 2011, one of Edwards's brothers, Christopher Edwards, died in a car crash after his vehicle veered into oncoming traffic and collided with a UPS truck.[50]
David Bruce Vitter is an American politician who served as a United States Senator from Louisiana from 2005 to 2017. A member of the Republican Party, Vitter served in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1992 to 1999 and in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1999 to 2005.
Charles Elson "Buddy" Roemer III was an American politician, investor, and banker who served as the 52nd governor of Louisiana from 1988 to 1992, and as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1981 to 1988. In March 1991, while serving as governor, Roemer switched affiliation from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party.
Foster Lonnie Campbell Jr. is an American politician and member of the Democratic Party from the U.S. state of Louisiana. Since 2003, he has been a member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission. He served in the Louisiana State Senate from 1976 to 2002.
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Scott Anthony Angelle is an American politician who served as the former director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement in Washington, D.C. From 2013 to 2017, he was the District 2 member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission, an elected five-person utility regulatory body.
Jeffrey Martin Landry is an American politician and attorney who has served since 2024 as the 57th governor of Louisiana. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 45th attorney general of Louisiana from 2016 to 2024 and as the U.S. representative for Louisiana's 3rd congressional district from 2011 to 2013.
Fred Henry Mills, Jr., is an American pharmacist, banker, and politician from Parks, Louisiana who served as a Republican member of the Louisiana State Senate, having won a special election on January 22, 2011. Mills had previously represented District 46 in the Louisiana House of Representatives.
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Clay John Schexnayder is an American businessman and politician from Ascension Parish, Louisiana. A Republican, he has served as a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 2012 to 2024, and as speaker of the House from 2020 to 2024.
United States gubernatorial elections were held in three states in 2015 as part of the 2015 United States elections. In Kentucky and Mississippi, the elections were held on November 3, and in Louisiana, as no candidate received a majority of votes at the primary election on October 24, 2015, a runoff election was held on November 21. The last regular gubernatorial elections for all three states were in 2011. Democrats picked up the open seat of term-limited Republican Bobby Jindal in Louisiana, while Republicans re-elected incumbent Phil Bryant in Mississippi and picked up the seat of term-limited Democrat Steve Beshear in Kentucky.
Elbert Lee Guillory is an American politician who is a former member of the Louisiana State Senate. A Republican, he represented District 24, including his native Opelousas, and several rural precincts, from May 2, 2009, when he won a special election, until January 11, 2016, when his full term to which he was elected in 2011 ended. Guillory previously served from 2006 to 2009 as state representative for District 40. Guillory is running to represent Louisiana's 6th congressional district in the 2024 election.
The 2016 United States Senate election in Louisiana took place on November 8, 2016, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Louisiana, concurrently with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
Ralph Lee Abraham Jr. is an American veterinarian, physician, and politician who served as the U.S. representative for Louisiana's 5th congressional district from 2015 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, he is a native and resident of Alto, Louisiana.
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The 2019 Louisiana gubernatorial election was held to elect the governor of Louisiana. Incumbent Democratic governor John Bel Edwards won re-election to a second term, defeating Republican businessman Eddie Rispone. Edwards became the first Democratic governor of Louisiana to win re-election to a second consecutive term in 44 years since Edwin Edwards in 1975. It was the closest Louisiana gubernatorial election since 1979.
United States gubernatorial elections were held on November 5, 2019, in Kentucky and Mississippi, and on October 12, 2019, with a runoff on November 16, in Louisiana. These elections formed part of the 2019 United States elections. The last regular gubernatorial elections for all three states were in 2015. The Democrats had to defend an incumbent in Louisiana, while the Republicans had to defend an incumbent in Kentucky plus an open seat in Mississippi. Though all three seats up were in typically Republican states, the election cycle became unexpectedly competitive: Kentucky and Louisiana were seen as highly contested races; and Mississippi's race ultimately became closer than usual, despite being seen as favorable for the Republicans.
Edward Lee Rispone is an American businessman and politician from the state of Louisiana. He ran as a Republican Party candidate for Governor of Louisiana in the 2019 election, losing to incumbent Democrat John Bel Edwards.
The 2023 Louisiana gubernatorial election was held on October 14, 2023 to elect the governor of Louisiana. Incumbent Governor John Bel Edwards was term-limited and could not seek re-election to a third consecutive term in office. This race was one of two Democratic-held governorships up for election in 2023 in a state that voted for Donald Trump in 2020.
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