Democrat Derrick Edwards, who ran without the official endorsement of the Louisiana Democratic Party and without its funding, pulled off a stunning victory Saturday night in leading the field of Treasurer candidates. The runoff is November 18 in which he will be facing John Schroder, who received 24% of the vote.Edwards received 31.26%. While Edwards, who is a relatively-unknown political candidate has the lead, many political observers believe the odds are significantly against his winning next month. The Republicans in the race, former Commissioner of Administration, Angele Davis and State Senator Neil Riser, received 21.64 and 18.13 percent respectively.
Louisiana Elections Page
Assuming those individuals who voted for one of those two Republicans continue vote party lines in the runoff, theoretically at least, 40% of the vote from last night could go to Schroder in one of the most conservative states in the country. The win for the Democrat was stunning, given the lack of support from the party and also given his substantial lack of campaign funding. Also, Edwards, who has a Masters and a Law Degree has been paralyzed after a crushing football injury in his senior year in high school in 1989.
