Edwards defeats Vitter for Louisiana governor

Democrat John Bel Edwards won the runoff election for Louisiana governor on Saturday, defeating Republican U.S. Sen. David Vitter, who started his campaign nearly two years ago as the overwhelming favorite in the race to replace term-limited Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal.

Edwards, a state lawmaker, framed the race as a referendum on Vitter’s character. Vitter was caught up in a 2007 prostitution scandal in which he apologized for a “serious sin” after he was linked through phone records to Washington’s “D.C. Madam.”

Edwards, a rare Democrat who is pro-life and pro–gun rights, focused on his West Point degree and military résumé and ran as a moderate who pledged a bipartisan leadership style. His victory represents the first for a Louisiana Democrat in a statewide contest since 2008.

In the final days of the campaign, Vitter sought to rally Republican voters who stayed home in the primary by drawing policy distinctions with Edwards and making Syrian refugee resettlement an issue in the state campaign. But it apparently didn’t work.

Once the governor’s race was decided, Vitter announced to supporters in New Orleans that he would not seek reelection for the U.S. Senate in 2016.

Vitter told supporters that before entering the governor’s race, he and his wife had decided he would not seek another term in the Senate.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.