John Bel Edwards recall, Governor of Louisiana (2020-2021)
| Louisiana Governor recall |
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| Officeholders |
| Recall status |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2020 Recalls in Louisiana Louisiana recall laws State executive recalls Recall reports |
An effort to recall Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) was launched on August 31, 2020. Supporters of the recall had up to 180 days—or no later than February 27, 2021—to collect just over 600,000 signatures to require a recall election. The recall effort failed after an insufficient amount of signatures were submitted. According to the Associated Press, the Louisiana Secretary of State’s Office said on March 19, 2021, that all parishes but one had completed the counting of signatures and 26,679 signatures were submitted in the recall effort.[1][2]
Edwards was elected as Louisiana's governor in 2015 with 56.1% of the vote. He was re-elected in 2019 with 51.3% of the vote. Bobby Jindal (R) served as governor from 2008 to 2016.
To read about other recall efforts related to the coronavirus and government responses to the pandemic, click here.
Recall supporters
The recall effort was filed by Lee Joseph Vidrine and Michael Lyn Vidrine on August 31.[3] Petitioners claimed that the recall effort was over Edwards' coronavirus response. Paige Lowry, an organizer of the East Baton Rouge Parish petition, said that Edwards' decisions regarding the virus had thrown the state into an economic decline.[4]
Recall opponents
At a press conference on September 10, 2020, related to COVID-19, Edwards was asked about the recall effort. He said, "There’s a recall petition circulating? There are a lot of things that keep me up at night. That’s not one of them."[5]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in Louisiana
The information here is taken from the Louisiana Secretary of State's recall and is a guide to the recall process in Louisiana
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1. Copy of recall petition is filed with SOS by the chairman of the recall committee, and it must "contain a clear statement of the reason or reasons for the recall." 2. The completed petition is submitted to the Registrar(s) of Voters:
3. The Registrar of Voters shall certify the recall petition:
4. The petition is forwarded to the Governor if the required number of signatures are certified by the Registrar of Voters. 5. The Governor issues an election proclamation within 15 days after he receives the certified petition from the Registrar of Voters.
6. Immediately after the issuance of the proclamation, the Governor shall publish the proclamation in the official journal of each parish where the recall election is to be held. 7. Within 24 hours after issuing the proclamation, the Governor shall send a copy of the petition and proclamation, by registered or certified mail, to the clerk of the district court for each parish in which the recall election will be held. 8. A copy of the petition and proclamation also shall be sent to the Secretary of State. (by the Governor) 9. Within 24 hours after receiving the copies, the Secretary of State shall notify all other election officials in the parish(es) where the recall election is to be held. 10. If the recall passes, the public officer is recalled and removed from office and the office is declared vacant when the election returns are certified to the Secretary of State. The vacancy is then filled as usual. The recalled official cannot be appointed to fill the vacancy. 11. If the recall fails, no recall election for the same official shall be held within 18 months from the date of the failed recall election.[6] |
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Ballotpedia covered 35 coronavirus-related recall efforts against 94 officials in 2022, accounting for 13% of recalls that year. This is a decrease from both 2020 and 2021. COVID-related recalls accounted for 37% of all recall efforts in both 2020 and 2021. In 2020, there were 87 COVID-related recalls against 89 officials, and in 2021, there were 131 against 214 officials.
The chart below compares coronavirus-related recalls to recalls for all other reasons in 2020, 2021, and 2022.
Election history
2019
See also: Louisiana gubernatorial election, 2019
Louisiana elections use the majority-vote system. All candidates compete in the same primary, and a candidate can win the election outright by receiving more than 50 percent of the vote. If no candidate does, the top two vote recipients from the primary advance to the general election, regardless of their partisan affiliation.
General election
General election for Governor of Louisiana
Incumbent John Bel Edwards defeated Eddie Rispone in the general election for Governor of Louisiana on November 16, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | John Bel Edwards (D) | 51.3 | 774,498 | |
| Eddie Rispone (R) | 48.7 | 734,286 | ||
| Total votes: 1,508,784 (100.00% precincts reporting) | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Governor of Louisiana
The following candidates ran in the primary for Governor of Louisiana on October 12, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | John Bel Edwards (D) | 46.6 | 625,970 | |
| ✔ | Eddie Rispone (R) | 27.4 | 368,319 | |
| Ralph Abraham (R) | 23.6 | 317,149 | ||
| Oscar Dantzler (D) | 0.8 | 10,993 | ||
| Patrick Landry (R) | 0.8 | 10,966 | ||
| Gary Landrieu (Independent) | 0.8 | 10,084 | ||
| Total votes: 1,343,481 | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Manuel Leach (R)
- Patrick Doguet (R)
- M.V. Mendoza (D)
2015
- See also: Louisiana gubernatorial election, 2015
General election
The general election for Louisiana governor between David Vitter (R) and John Bel Edwards (D) was held on November 21, 2015. Edwards defeated his Republican opponent.
| Governor of Louisiana, Run-off election, 2015 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic |  John Bel Edwards |
56.1% | 646,860 | |
| Republican | David Vitter | 43.9% | 505,929 | |
| Total Votes | 1,152,789 | |||
| Election Results via the Louisiana Secretary of State. | ||||
Primary election
No candidate received an outright majority in the blanket primary election. The two candidates with the most votes, who qualified for the November runoff election, were John Bel Edwards (D) and David Vitter (R).[7]
| Governor of Louisiana, Blanket Primary, 2015 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | John Bel Edwards |
39.9% | 444,061 | |
| Republican | David Vitter |
23% | 256,105 | |
| Republican | Scott Angelle | 19.3% | 214,907 | |
| Republican | Jay Dardenne | 15% | 166,553 | |
| Democratic | Cary Deaton | 1.1% | 11,750 | |
| Democratic | S L Simpson | 0.7% | 7,411 | |
| Independent | Beryl Billiot | 0.5% | 5,690 | |
| Independent | Jeremy "JW" Odom | 0.4% | 4,755 | |
| Independent | Eric Paul Orgeron | 0.2% | 2,244 | |
| Total Votes | 1,113,476 | |||
| Election Results Louisiana Secretary of State. | ||||
Historical governor recalls
From 2003 to 2019, Ballotpedia tracked 58 gubernatorial recall efforts against 16 different governors. During that time, two recalls made the ballot and one governor was successfully recalled. Former California Gov. Gray Davis (D) was recalled by voters in 2003. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) was chosen as Davis' replacement. The only other governor to ever be successfully recalled was former North Dakota Gov. Lynn Frazier (R) in 1921. In 2012, Wisconsin voted to retain former Gov. Scott Walker (R) in the recall election. He received 53.1% of the vote.
See also
- Recall campaigns in Louisiana
- Political recall efforts, 2020
- Political recall efforts, 2021
- Gubernatorial recalls
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Associated Press, "Attempt to recall Louisiana governor falls far short, fails," March 19, 2021
- ↑ Louisiana Secretary of State, "Recall an Elected Official," accessed March 3, 2021
- ↑ The Advocate, "This petition filed to recall John Bel Edwards needs just over 600,000 signatures," September 1, 2020
- ↑ CenLANow, "A recall petition demands Governor Edwards be removed from office for his coronavirus response," September 13, 2020
- ↑ KNOE, "Gov. Edwards responds after being asked about recall petition," September 10, 2020
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ The Lens, "Elections 2015," accessed October 25, 2015