John Bel Edwards

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John Bel Edwards (2016)

John Bel Edwards (born September 16, 1966 in Amite City , Louisiana ) is an American politician of the Democratic Party . He has been the governor of Louisiana since 2016 . He was previously a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 2008 and chairman of the Democratic Group from 2012.

Career and political advancement

Edwards was born in Amite City , where he grew up and attended school. In 1988 he joined the US Forces , which he served for eight years until 1996. After graduating from high school in 1984, he had attended a military academy for four years . After his military career, he studied law at Louisiana State University . He graduated there in 1999. Edwards then spent several years as a lawyer in various fields in Louisiana. However, since his brother was serving as the sheriff in the same area , he did not engage in local crimes to avoid a conflict of interest.

As a member of the Democratic Party , he was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives in 2007 . He took up his four-year mandate as representative of the 72nd electoral district in January 2008 and was the only newly elected MP to chair a committee (for veterans affairs). Re-elected in 2011, Edwards took over the chairmanship of the Democratic Group in January 2012. He was one of the prominent critics of the policies of the Republican Governor Bobby Jindal , in particular of his savings in education. For the 2011 gubernatorial election , however, he turned down an opposing candidate for Jindal after some party friends brought him up as a potential candidate.

After much speculation, Edwards announced in February 2013 his intention to run for governor in the 2015 election . Unlike in most states no internal party are in Louisiana primaries ( primarys ) held, but there are so-called Nonpartisan blanket primarys carried out where to take all candidates of all parties against each other and in the event that no one absolute majority is reached, the two voices fittest run for the runoff election. From the first ballot on October 24, 2015, Edwards emerged as the strongest vote with 39.8% of the vote, with the Republican US Senator David Vitter (23%) in second place . In the runoff election on November 21, 2015, Edwards, who had led in polls, prevailed with around 56% of the vote. While the state leans structurally towards the Republicans, Edwards benefited from the controversial person Vitters. Most recently, a number of Republican politicians spoke out in favor of him, such as the incumbent Lieutenant Governor Jay Dardenne , who was eliminated with his application after the first ballot. Edwards also benefited from the low popularity ratings of the outgoing Governor Jindal.

Louisiana Governor

Edwards was sworn in as governor in a formal ceremony on January 11, 2016. As one of his first acts, the new head of government signed a directive to expand the Medicaid health care program in his state. His Republican predecessor Jindal had always refused to expand the program under President Obama's health care reform . With the expansion, more people, especially those on lower incomes, should receive full health insurance coverage. After the program began in early June 2016, over 260,000 low-income Louisiana residents had signed up for this expansion by early August, which has been seen as evidence of the great need for higher insurance coverage in the state.

In the summer of 2016, a flood disaster occurred in Louisiana, in which he, as governor, had to coordinate state aid.

Bel Edwards is running for a second four-year term in 2019 gubernatorial election . He was nominated by the Democrats in March 2019 and will run for the cross-party primary , the so-called "Jungle Primary", on October 12, 2019. The former Republican Congressman Ralph Abraham is one of the competitors. Bel Edwards, who recorded relatively positive approval ratings (December 2018 survey: 47 to 34 percent), is considered a slight favorite in this Republican-dominated state. In 2019, he was the only Democratic governor in the Deep South and the only Democrat to hold a state-wide office in Louisiana. On November 16, 2019, he was re-elected with 51.3% of the vote against businessman Eddie Rispone, who received 48.7%. He was the first Democratic governor of Louisiana to be sustained in office since 1975. His second term began in January 2020.

Private

Edwards with his wife Donna (2015)

Edwards is married. He and his wife, Donna, have two daughters and a son. He belongs to the Catholic Church .

Despite having an identical family name, John Bel Edwards is not related to Edwin Edwards , a former governor of Louisiana.

Web links

Commons : John Bel Edwards  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ About John Bel Edwards , biography on his website
  2. ↑ Dardenne endorses Edwards, called traitor by GOP , Shreveport-Times, November 5, 2015 (English)
  3. ^ Louisiana's New Governor Signs an Order to Expand Medicaid. In: The New York Times , January 12, 2016.
  4. ^ Noam N. Levey: In Louisiana, the rush to sign up for Obamacare highlights a 'long overdue' demand for health insurance. In: The Los Angeles Times , August 7, 2016.
  5. ↑ Kyle Kondik: Governors 2019-2020: Democrats try to hold the line in red-state battles. In: Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball , University of Virginia Center for Politics, December 6, 2018; Elizabeth Crisp: Gov. John Bel Edwards officially receives Louisiana Democratic Party endorsement for re-election. In: The Advocate , March 9, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Edwards, John Bel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician
DATE OF BIRTH September 16, 1966
PLACE OF BIRTH Amite City , Louisiana