Somebody explain John Bel Edwards to me

[walleye26]

Considering Louisiana is so Republican, how did JBE win? In 2015, a Republican-friendly year, no less.

[Horus]

He's pro life, pro death penalty and nauseatingly pro prison industrial complex.

[Nyvin]

Jindal tanked both the Louisiana economy and state budget pretty hardcore.    Additionally Vitter was seen as a corporate slimeball (which he definitely is).   

The two together made it possible for JBE to pull through on local issues and avoid national politics at the time.

[Senator Incitatus]

a) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZQVCFVVVE0

b) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE-340ZRJhE

[soundchaser]

Can’t discount Vitter’s earlier prostitution scandal — while I don’t think it had as big an impact as Jindal absolutely destroying the state’s economy (and my personal feelings on prostitution aside), it definitely contributed to a larger image of general sleaze.

[Pollster]

Vitter was scandal-plagued, very Washington, woefully unprepared for a competitive race, and bogged down by the Jindal disaster.

JBE was clean, knew the state, ready to fight for it, and had solutions.

[Mr. Smith]

Vitter's baggage caught up with him now that there wasn't a national wave to bury it, and unlike most Dems, JBE took no prisoners the whole way.

I actually considered writing him in for 2016 in honor of this style, which for some reason no Democrat has done with Trump, when that would be so easy.

[DINGO Joe]

He's pro life, pro death penalty and nauseatingly pro prison industrial complex.

JBE did the whole prison reform thing

https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/crime_police/article_a5c01e10-7ad9-11e8-856e-ebf326bf26bc.html

The state has seen a 20 percent decrease in the number of people imprisoned for nonviolent crimes and a 42 percent decrease in those sent to prison for drug possession.  Actually fell behind OK for highest incarceration rate.   Also got rid of Louisiana being the only state that could convict without a unanimous jury (via Constitutional amendment).

Probably will make him a little more unpopular in rural areas since that's where all the prison are.

[DINGO Joe]

He also spent money on education, which the Rs don't believe in.  Did the Medicaid expansion too.

[Epaminondas]

a) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZQVCFVVVE0

b) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE-340ZRJhE

That first ad against Vitter is so savage.
Perhaps that's a leaf to take out of JBE's book for 2020 nationwide.

However JBE is by no means a run of the mill Democrat, he's very much Southern flavour and every young Dem from Louisiana I've met has hard word against him.

[Xing]

David Vitter, that's the explanation.

[Skye]

David Vitter, that's the explanation.

Pretty much. Yes, Jindal was unpopular, yes, JBE was an overall solid candidate with positions acceptable to Louisiana voters; but Vitter was just a whole other level of bad. You don't lose a high profile open race (while being a sitting Senator!) in LA by double digits as a GOP nominee in this time and age if you aren't a genuinely terrible candidate.

[MT Treasurer]

- pro-life Democrat
- who ran a competent and effective campaign
- against an extremely unpopular opponent
- from the same party as the unpopular outgoing governor

Nothing surprising, although his win was still somewhat impressive given how bad the national environment was for Democrats in 2015.

[Pollster]

Vitter's baggage caught up with him now that there wasn't a national wave to bury it, and unlike most Dems, JBE took no prisoners the whole way.

This really shouldn't be discounted - JBE's campaign aggressively and effectively prosecuted the case against Vitter and it would have been a different race had they not.

[Epaminondas]

I'm still torn about how vicious this ad is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZQVCFVVVE0

Incredibly effective, but doesn't this just invite even worse every cycle?
(Or is my line of thinking exactly why Dems lose so often to whackjobs since 2010?)

[DINGO Joe]

I'm still torn about how vicious this ad is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZQVCFVVVE0

Incredibly effective, but doesn't this just invite even worse every cycle?
(Or is my line of thinking exactly why Dems lose so often to whackjobs since 2010?)

I guess Rs better more careful about when they call their prostitutes.

[Ebsy]

Prostitutes over Patriots man,

prostitutes over patriots.

[Senator Incitatus]

I'm still torn about how vicious this ad is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZQVCFVVVE0

Incredibly effective, but doesn't this just invite even worse every cycle?
(Or is my line of thinking exactly why Dems lose so often to whackjobs since 2010?)

A great way to not get attacked for being a total dirtbag is to not be a total dirtbag.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

If Mitch Landrieu ran for Senate in 2014 instead of his sister, he would have defeated Cassidy.  Landrieu, along with Breaux and JBE are pragmatic Dems whom can win LA

[IceSpear]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the massive amount of friendly fire Vitter took during the campaign. The third place finisher, Scott Angelle, didn't lift a finger to help Vitter and made his contempt for him known. As if that wasn't bad enough, the fourth place finisher, Jay Dardenne, the incumbent Republican Lt. Gov, actually endorsed JBE right before the election.  And due to LA's jungle primary system he had far less time to recover from the hits and consolidate the conservative vote.

The jungle primary split was 57-42 R, which is roughly what you'd expect in Louisiana, so I think the Republican internecine warfare had far more to do with the Democratic win than JBE's candidate quality (though he is a good one and it definitely helped) or Bobby Jindal. Though I guess it also ties into Vitter's general toxicity as well. But keep in mind that Charlie Melancon tried to aggressively use the prostitute strategy in 2010 too (like the prostitutes over patriots ad you all love so much) when it was actually more recent and relevant, and it went absolutely nowhere. Yeah yeah it was a wave, but it's not as if 2015 was a great environment for the Democrats either.

I think it was a lot easier for Republican voters to take Vitter's scandals and his general lack of character more seriously when it was coming from other Republicans, as opposed to when it was fake news lies coming from the Demoncrats and the Communist News Network or whatever.

[DINGO Joe]

If Mitch Landrieu ran for Senate in 2014 instead of his sister, he would have defeated Cassidy.  Landrieu, along with Breaux and JBE are pragmatic Dems whom can win LA

No

[pppolitics]

John Bel Edwards is a Demolican.

He is what you called a Republican elsewhere, but a Democrat down South.

[Mr. Smith]

John Bel Edwards is a Demolican.

He is what you called a Republican elsewhere, but a Democrat down South.

No, the only place he'd be Republican is somewhere like Massachusetts or Vermont, maybe West Virginia. Anywhere else, and Edwards' record would be too liberal. Or in the cases of CA/HI it'd be political suicide to jump ship that way.

[Oryxslayer]

John Bel Edwards is a Demolican.

He is what you called a Republican elsewhere, but a Democrat down South.

No, the only place he'd be Republican is somewhere like Massachusetts or Vermont, maybe West Virginia. Anywhere else, and Edwards' record would be too liberal. Or in the cases of CA/HI it'd be political suicide to jump ship that way.

In HI/CA/MA you have people even more conservative then JBE elected as dems in a handful of places, because running outside the party is a automatic-defeat in their constituency.

[TheElectoralBoobyPrize]

Louisiana cares a lot more about who their governor is than who their senator is. The gubernatorial campaign is seen as the political Superbowl in that state, and it's one of the few states to elect the governor in an off-year, off-year (not presidential or midterm). Remember, David Duke actually did better in his U.S. Senate race than the governor's race a year later.

But everything else mentioned in this thread is true...JBE not having much baggage while Vitter had a ton (and not just his affairs), plus 2015 wasn't as hostile to Democrats as 2010 or 2014. Trump was already starting to make Obama look kinda good.