As Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards’ second term winds down, the Politico website delivered an excellent recap of the Democratic politician’s success in a strongly Republican Southern state.
Edwards won the governor’s election in 2015 through a combination of good fortune and hard work.
His main opponent that year was a former U.S. senator with a Washington scandal on his resumé. But Edwards also traveled the entire state, shaking hands at any number of banquets and other events to get his name and face in front of citizens across Louisiana.
Politico columnist Jonathan Martin, who clearly knows Louisiana, observed, “In a state infamous for its corruption, a West Pointer with a duty-honor-country bearing was as appealing to Black voters in Shreveport as he was to whites in Uptown New Orleans, even if his manner was more vanilla than Tabasco.”
It also helped that Edwards had different opinions on some key cultural issues than does the national Democratic Party: He is pro-gun rights and against abortion.
Edwards told Politico he thinks Louisiana voters appreciated that he was willing to work with the Legislature’s Republican majority on important issues where both sides compromised. He said he did not speak of Republicans who opposed him as enemies — a wise decision that many modern politicians choose to ignore.
Martin wrote that Edwards’ success in Louisiana — he easily won a second term in 2019 — offers some proof that, while many politicians have won elections by being provocative, “there’s a parallel incentive structure that rewards competence, biography and normalcy.”
If true, that’s a good thing. Martin wrote that plenty of partisan voters, including those who tend to vote in primaries, have supported the provocateurs in recent years. “However, with the broader electorate, the considerable political center, I think playing against that type can carry its own benefits,” he added. “Exhausted and confused voters will default to boring if it seems normal. The 2020 presidential results are the best evidence.”
There is something to be said for boring and normal. In politics, descriptions like those imply competence, and all levels of government need more of that — an ability to just get the job done.
Edwards told Politico that Democrats need to move toward the political center if they wish to be competitive in Republican states like those in the South.
“Go to the center, get a good compromise — and do that more often,” the governor said. As a Democrat in Louisiana, he certainly had to do that frequently, and there’s no doubt that his two terms are an exception to the rule of modern Southern politics, which are certain to be dominated by Republicans for a long time.
