Louisiana Attorney General election, 2015

Last updated
Louisiana Attorney General election, 2015
Flag of Louisiana.svg
  2011 November 21, 2015 [1] 2019 
  Press Pic.jpg 3x4.svg
Nominee Jeff Landry Buddy Caldwell
Party Republican Republican
Popular vote610,459473,915
Percentage56.30%43.70%

LAAG2015.svg
Parish results
Landry:     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%
Caldwell:     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%

Attorney General before election

Buddy Caldwell
Republican

Elected Attorney General

Jeff Landry
Republican

The 2015 Louisiana Attorney General election took place on October 24, 2015 to elect the Attorney General of the state of Louisiana, with a runoff election, held on November 21, 2015. Incumbent Buddy Caldwell, a former Democrat who joined the Republican Party in February 2011, sought re-election to a third term in office, but was defeated by Republican Jeff Landry.

Louisiana State of the United States of America

Louisiana is a state in the Deep South region of the South Central United States. It is the 31st most extensive and the 25th most populous of the 50 United States. Louisiana is bordered by the state of Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, Mississippi to the east, and the Gulf of Mexico to the south. A large part of its eastern boundary is demarcated by the Mississippi River. Louisiana is the only U.S. state with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are equivalent to counties. The state's capital is Baton Rouge, and its largest city is New Orleans.

Two-round system voting system used to elect a single winner where a second round of voting is used if no candidate wins an absolute majority in the first round

The two-round system is a voting method used to elect a single winner, where the voter casts a single vote for their chosen candidate. However, if no candidate receives the required number of votes, then those candidates having less than a certain proportion of the votes, or all but the two candidates receiving the most votes, are eliminated, and a second round of voting is held.

James David Caldwell Sr., known as Buddy Caldwell, is an American politician and lawyer based in Louisiana. Since 2011, when he switched from the Democratic Party, he has been affiliated with the Republican Party. He served as attorney general of the U.S. state of Louisiana from 2008 to 2016, being repeatedly re-elected to office.

Contents

Under Louisiana's jungle primary system, all candidates will appear on the same ballot, regardless of party, and voters may vote for any candidate, regardless of their party affiliation. Since no candidate received a majority of the vote during the primary election, a runoff election was held on November 21, 2015 between Caldwell and Landry. Louisiana is the only state that has a jungle primary system (California and Washington have a similar "top two primary" system).

California State of the United States of America

California is a state in the Pacific Region of the United States. With 39.6 million residents, California is the most populous U.S. state and the third-largest by area. The state capital is Sacramento. The Greater Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nation's second and fifth most populous urban regions, with 18.7 million and 9.7 million residents respectively. Los Angeles is California's most populous city, and the country's second most populous, after New York City. California also has the nation's most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The City and County of San Francisco is both the country's second-most densely populated major city after New York City and the fifth-most densely populated county, behind only four of the five New York City boroughs.

Washington (state) State of the United States of America

Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Named for George Washington, the first president of the United States, the state was made out of the western part of the Washington Territory, which was ceded by Britain in 1846 in accordance with the Oregon Treaty in the settlement of the Oregon boundary dispute. It was admitted to the Union as the 42nd state in 1889. Olympia is the state capital; the state's largest city is Seattle. Washington is sometimes referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States.

A nonpartisan blanket primary is a primary election in which all candidates for the same elected office, regardless of respective political party, run against each other at once, instead of being segregated by political party. It is also known as a jungle primary, or qualifying primary. In most cases there are two winners who advance to the general election, which must be a normal first-past-the-post election, in this case it is called a top-two primary.

Candidates

Republican party

Filed

Jeff Landry American politician, attorney and businessman

Jeffrey Martin Landry is an American lawyer and politician serving as the Attorney General of Louisiana. On January 11, 2016, he succeeded Buddy Caldwell, the man whom he unseated in the runoff election held on November 21, 2015. Landry is a former U.S. Representative for Louisiana's 3rd congressional district. Landry is a member of the Republican Party.

Declined

Democratic party

Filed

  • Geraldine Broussard Baloney
  • Isaac Jackson

Declined

Richard Joseph Gallot, Jr., known as Rick Gallot, is the current president of Grambling State University and was a Democratic member of the Louisiana State Senate for District 29, which encompasses the African-American portions of seven parishes. In the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 22, 2011, Gallot received 12,992 votes. Trailing was the Republican Tony "Bo" Vets, with 7,579 votes and Democrat Mary L. Wardsworth, with 5,271 votes.

Walter J. Leger III, known as Walt Leger, is Speaker pro tempore of the Louisiana House of Representatives and the representative for District 91, which includes Central City, Uptown, the Lower Garden District, the Irish Channel, parts of Broadmoor, Gert Town, and Hollygrove in New Orleans, Louisiana. Leger is a member of the Democratic Party.

Louisiana House of Representatives lower house in the Louisiana State Legislature

The Louisiana House of Representatives is the lower house in the Louisiana State Legislature, the state legislature of the US state of Louisiana. The House is composed of 105 representatives, each of whom represents approximately 42,500 people. Members serve four-year terms with a term limit of three terms. The House is one of the five state legislative lower houses that has a four-year term, as opposed to the near-universal two-year term.

Jungle primary

Polling

Poll sourceDate(s)
administered
Sample
size
Margin of
error
Buddy
Caldwell (R)
John
Kennedy (R)
Jeff
Landry (R)
Jacques
Roy (D)
Undecided
Triumph March 5, 20151,655± 2.4%30%20%30%21%
NSO Research* January 10–13, 2015600± 4%17%23%10%18%32%
Poll sourceDate(s)
administered
Sample
size
Margin of
error
Buddy
Caldwell (R)
Jeff
Landry (R)
Generic
Democrat (D)
OtherUndecided
V/C Research February 20–25, 2014600± 4%23%15%33%1%27%

Results

Results by parish:
Caldwell
60-70%
50-60%
40-50%
30-40%
Landry
30-40%
40-50%
50-60%
60-70%
Baloney
<30%
30-40%
40-50% LAAGprimary2015.svg
Results by parish:
Louisiana attorney general election Jungle Primary, 2015
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Buddy Caldwell 376,40735.4
Republican Jeff Landry 347,60532.7
Democratic Geri Broussard Baloney187,57517.6
Democratic Isaac Jackson115,18810.8
Republican Marty Maley37,8303.6
Total votes1,064,605100.0

Runoff

Results

Louisiana lieutenant gubernatorial election runoff, 2015
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Jeff Landry 610,45956.3
Republican Buddy Caldwell 473,91543.7
Majority136,54412.6
Total votes1,084,374100.0
Republican hold

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References

  1. Attorney General
  2. "Contenders emerge in race for top attorney". St. Charles Herald Guide. July 24, 2013. Retrieved November 11, 2014.
  3. Marsha Shuler (February 25, 2014). "Former congressman running for state attorney general". The Advocate. Retrieved March 18, 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "How Vulnerable is Buddy Caldwell?". LA Politics. October 7, 2013. Retrieved March 18, 2014.
  5. "Race for attorney general has many facets". Houma Today. February 25, 2014. Retrieved March 18, 2014.
  6. Michelle Southern (December 11, 2014). "Kennedy reportedly eyeing the AG seat in 2015". WWL. Retrieved December 15, 2014.
  7. O'Donoghue, Julia (April 9, 2015). "State Treasurer John Kennedy will seek reelection, not run for governor or attorney general". The Times-Picayune . Retrieved April 9, 2015.
  8. "Contenders emerge in race for top attorney". St. Charles Herald-Guide. July 24, 2013. Retrieved March 18, 2014.