Louisiana gubernatorial election, 2011

Main article: State executive official elections, 2011

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The Louisiana gubernatorial election of 2011 was decided on October 22, 2011 in the primary election. Incumbent Republican Bobby Jindal captured more than 50% of the vote in the blanket primary, winning re-election outright. The Louisiana general election was held on Saturday, November 19, 2011 but the office of governor did not appear on the ballot. Polling hours on all election days are from 6:00 am to 8:00 pm, local time.

Louisiana elects the governor and the lieutenant governor on a shared ticket in the general election only; the two offices have separate primary campaigns and elections. Jindal's former Lieutenant Governor, Scott Angelle, was nominated and then confirmed by the Louisiana State Senate to replace Mitch Landrieu after the latter was elected the Mayor of New Orleans. Angelle's tenure as Lieutenant Governor was brief - in the 2010 midterms, Republican Jay Dardenne won the special election, and was elected to a full term in the lieutenant governor primary race on October 22, 2011.

• Background
• October 22 primary election
• Campaign finance

2011 State Executive Official Elections

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News • Calendar

Contents
1 Key dates
2 Race background
3 Race tracking

Key dates

• Detailed dates and deadlines relevant to the election are listed at the Louisiana Secretary of State and may change as the state legislature has the power to amend the schedule.

• Voters may check their registration status, register for the first time, or request an absentee ballot at the Louisiana Secretary of State's Voter Registration Portal.

• Administrative deadlines are at close of business (5:00) unless otherwise noted.

Deadline	Event
Sept. 8	Declaration of candidacy
Sept. 21	Voter registration for the primary election
Oct. 8 - 15	Early voting period for the primary
Oct. 18	Absentee ballot request for the primary
Oct. 19	Voter registration for the general election
Oct. 21	Absentee ballot receipt by registrar for the primary
Oct. 22	Primary election
Nov. 5 - 12	Early voting period for the general election
Nov. 15	Absentee ballot request for the general election
Nov. 18	Absentee ballot receipt by registrar
Nov. 19	General election

Race background

America's youngest governor and one of her most popular, Bobby Jindal was touted as Presidential material almost as soon as he won his first term. In October of 2008, though, he flatly denied a 2012 run. This is not to say he has ruled out future elections and many analysts continue to see him as a future Presidential candidate. He waited significantly longer, until August of 2010, to formalize his re-election bid as Louisiana's chief executive. Jindal began the race with $7 million in the bank.

His bank balance and his high profile have made it a challenge for the Democrats to bring forward a challenger. Many prominent blue names in the Pelican State have already declined to run.

Race tracking

See also: Ballotpedia Election Racetracking

2011 Race Rankings for Governor of Louisiana
Race Tracker		Race Rating
The Cook Political Report		Safe Republican
Governing Politics		Safe Republican
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball		Safe Republican
The Rothenberg Political Report		Safe Republican
Overall Call		Safe Republican

In state races, Louisiana uses an open primary system often referred to as a "jungle primary." All candidates, regardless of political affiliation, run in one primary where voters are not bound to vote for a candidate from their own party.

Ordinarily, the top two vote-earners, who may be from the same party, will advance to a run-off. However, if one candidate wins a plurality, he or she is considered to have won the election.

Results

Governor of Louisiana, 2011
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Bobby Jindal Incumbent	65.8%	673,239
	Democratic	Tara Hollis	17.9%	182,925
	Democratic	Cary Deaton	4.9%	50,071
	Democratic	Trey Roberts	3.3%	33,280
	Independent	David Blanchard	2.6%	26,705
	Democratic	Niki Bird Papazoglakis	2.1%	21,885
	Libertarian	Scott Lewis	1.2%	12,528
	Independent	Robert Lang, Jr.	0.9%	9,109
	Independent	Ron Caesar	0.8%	8,179
	Independent	Leonard Bollingham	0.5%	5,242
Total Votes				1,023,163

Candidates

Democratic

• Tara Hollis, a school teacher and farmer
• Cary Deaton
• Niki Bird Papazoglakis
• Trey Roberts

Republican

• Bobby Jindal, the current governor

Libertarian

• Scott Lewis

Independent

• Ron Caesar, the owner of an accounting and tax services company
• Robert Lang, Jr.
• Leonard Bollingham
• David Blanchard

Former candidates

• Dan Northcutt, a self-identified "conservative independent," initially declared his intention to run but withdrew from the race in June 2011.

Polls

While no strong candidates have emerged to challenge Jindal, early polling indicates that there are almost as many Louisiana voters that would "definitely re-elect" him as there are people who would "definitely vote for someone else."

Date of Poll	Pollster	Re-elect Jindal	Consider another candidate	Choose another candidate	Don't know	Number polled
April 19-23	Southern Media and Opinion Research	35.6%	28.6%	32.3%	3.5%	600

A new poll commissioned by WWL-TV and conducted by the Clarus Research Group gave Jindal a 52 point lead over the next closest candidate.

Date of Poll	Pollster	Bobby Jindal (R)	Tara Hollis (D)	David Blanchard (I)	Cary Deaton (D)	Scott Lewis (L)	Trey Roberts (D)	Robert Lang, Jr. (I)	Niki Bird Papazoglakis (D)	Lenny Bollingham (I)	Ron Caesar (I)	Undecided	Number polled
October 5-7	WWL-TV	57%	5%	2%	2%	2%	2%	1%	1%	0%	0%	29%	602

The Louisiana Board of Ethics Supervisory Committee on Campaign Finance Disclosure administers laws regulating election financing and reporting. It is also the repository for all reports that candidates and committees are required to file.

Due dates for reports

Filing deadlines for the 2011 primary cycle are as follows: 180th day prior to primary (180-P), due April 25, 2011 90th day prior to primary (90-P), due July 25, 2011 30th day prior to primary (30-P), due September 22, 2011 10th day prior to primary (10-P), due October 12, 2011 Election Day Expenditures, due November 1, 2011 10th day prior to general (10-G), due November 9, 2011

Filing deadlines for the 2011 general cycle are as follows: Election Day Expenditures, due November 29, 2011 40th day after general (40-G), due December 29, 2011 Supplemental & Annual, due February 15, 2012 The detailed schedule is available from the Louisiana Ethics Administration's website. 'Donations exceeding $1,000 that are made within 20 days of an election must be individually reported within 48 hours of receipt, using the "48 Hour Report" form.

Candidates

Jindal

Bobby Jindal Campaign Finance Reports
Report		Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Cash Contributions	In-kind Contributions	(Expenditures)	Cash on Hand
180 Day Pre-Primary		April 25, 2011	$9,162,051.49	$1,700,872.59	$ 22,237.93	$(1,329,024.86)	$9,547,157.62
30 Day Pre-Primary		September 16, 2011	$8,817,301.71	$ 419,075.30	$ 25,104.98	$(1,498,583.18)	$7,740,917.24

Hollis

Tara Hollis Campaign Finance Reports
Report		Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Cash Contributions	In-kind Contributions	(Expenditures)	Cash on Hand
30 Day Pre-Primary		September 22, 2011	$ 0.00	$ 8,940.00	$18,935.08	$(8,594.11)	$ 3,658.80

See also

• Governor of Louisiana
• Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana
• Gubernatorial elections, 2011
• Louisiana lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2011
• Louisiana

External links

Suggest a link

• GeauxVote at Louisiana Secretary of State
• The Green Papers
• BobbyJindal.com Jindal's official campaign website