2023 Louisiana elections

2023 Louisiana elections

October 14, 2023 November 18, 2023

A general election was held in the U.S. state of Louisiana on October 14, 2023, with second rounds held on November 18 where needed.^[1] Louisiana uses a two round system, where all candidates from all parties share the same ballot in the first round, and if no candidate wins an absolute majority, a runoff between the top two is held.

Governor

Main article: 2023 Louisiana gubernatorial election

Incumbent governor John Bel Edwards was ineligible to seek a third consecutive term due to Louisiana's term limits.^[2]

Lieutenant governor

Main article: 2023 Louisiana lieutenant gubernatorial election

Incumbent lieutenant governor Billy Nungesser ran for re-election. He had previously expressed interest in running for governor, but decided against it.^[3]

Attorney general

Main article: 2023 Louisiana Attorney General election

Incumbent attorney general Jeff Landry ran for governor.^[4] Louisiana Solicitor General Liz Murrill defeated attorney Lindsey Cheek in the runoff.

Secretary of state

2023 Louisiana Secretary of State election

Nominee Nancy Landry Gwen Collins-Greenup Mike Francis Party Republican Democratic Republican First round 197,514 19.3% 196,534 19.2% 182,842 17.9% Runoff 446,038 66.8% 221,698 33.2% Eliminated   Nominee Clay Schexnayder Arthur Morrell Thomas Kennedy III Party Republican Democratic Republican First round 149,987 14.7% 113,703 11.1% 102,628 10.5% Runoff Eliminated Eliminated Eliminated   Nominee Brandon Trosclair Party Republican First round 64,686 6.3% Runoff Eliminated

First round parish results Runoff parish results Landry:      20–30%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90% Collins-Greenup:      20–30%      30–40%      50–60%      80–90% Francis:      20–30%      30–40%      40–50%      50–60%      60–70% Schexnayder:      20–30%      30–40% Morrell:      40–50% Kennedy:      40–50%

Secretary of State before election Kyle Ardoin Republican Elected Secretary of State Nancy Landry Republican

Incumbent secretary of state Kyle Ardoin retired.^[5] Former state representative Nancy Landry defeated attorney Gwen Collins-Greenup in the runoff.

Candidates

Advanced to runoff

• Nancy Landry (Republican), First Assistant Secretary of State and former state representative^[6]
• Gwen Collins-Greenup (Democratic), attorney and runner-up for secretary of state in 2018 and 2019^[7]

Eliminated in primary

• Mike Francis (Republican), Louisiana Public Service Commissioner and former chair of the Louisiana Republican Party^[8]
• Amanda Jennings (independent), insurance agent^[9]
• Thomas Kennedy III (Republican), businessman^[10]
• Arthur Morrell (Democratic), Orleans Parish Criminal District Clerk of Court^[11]
• Clay Schexnayder (Republican), Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives^[12]
• Brandon Trosclair (Republican), businessman^[13]

Declined

• Kyle Ardoin (Republican), incumbent secretary of state^[8]

General election

Candidate forum

2023 Louisiana Secretary of State candidate forum

No.	Date	Host	Link	Democratic	Republican	Independent	Republican	Republican	Democratic	Democratic	Republican
Key:  P  Participant   A  Absent   N  Not invited   I  Invited  W  Withdrawn
				Gwen Collins-Greenup	Mike Francis	Amanda Jennings	Thomas Kennedy III	Nancy Landry	Arthur Morrell	Clay Schexnayder	Brandon Trosclair
1[14]	Sep. 21, 2023	Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana	YouTube	P	P	N	N	P	P	A	P

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[a]	Margin of error	Gwen Collins-Greenup (D)	Mike Francis (R)	Amanda Jennings (I)	Thomas Kennedy III (R)	Nancy Landry (R)	Clay Schexnayder (R)	Brandon Trosclair (R)	Arthur Morrell (D)	Undecided
The Trafalgar Group (R)[15][A]	September 11–15, 2023	1,062 (LV)	± 2.9%	14%	8%	1%	5%	11%	11%	3%	6%	41%

Results

2023 Louisiana Secretary of State election jungle primary^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Nancy Landry	197,514	19.34%
	Democratic	Gwen Collins-Greenup	196,534	19.25%
	Republican	Mike Francis	182,842	17.91%
	Republican	Clay Schexnayder	149,987	14.69%
	Democratic	Arthur Morrell	113,703	11.13%
	Republican	Thomas Kennedy III	102,628	10.05%
	Republican	Brandon Trosclair	64,686	6.33%
	Independent	Amanda Jennings	13,275	1.30%
Total votes			1,021,169	100.0%

Runoff

2023 Louisiana Secretary of State runoff election^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Nancy Landry	446,038	66.80%	+7.73
	Democratic	Gwen Collins-Greenup	221,698	33.20%	−7.73
Total votes			667,736	100.0%

Treasurer

2023 Louisiana Treasurer election

Nominee John Fleming Dustin Granger Scott McKnight Party Republican Democratic Republican First round 442,668 44.0% 321,423 32.0% 241,125 24.0% Runoff 437,303 65.4% 230,961 34.6% Eliminated

First round parish results First round congressional district results Runoff parish results Fleming:      30–40%      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90% Granger:      30–40%      40–50%      50–60%      70–80%      80–90%

Treasurer before election John Schroder Republican Elected Treasurer John Fleming Republican

Incumbent treasurer John Schroder retired to run for governor.^[18] Former U.S. Representative John Fleming defeated Dustin Granger in the runoff.

Candidates

Advanced to runoff

• John Fleming (Republican), former U.S. Representative for Louisiana's 4th congressional district (2009–2017)^[19]
• Dustin Granger (Democratic), financial advisor^[20]

Eliminated in primary

• Scott McKnight (Republican), state representative^[21]

Declined

• John Schroder (Republican), incumbent treasurer (running for governor; endorsed McKnight)^[18][22]

General election

Candidate forum

2023 Louisiana State Treasurer candidate forum

No.	Date	Host	Link	Republican	Democratic	Republican
Key:  P  Participant   A  Absent   N  Not invited   I  Invited  W  Withdrawn
				John Fleming	Dustin Granger	Scott McKnight
1	Aug. 16, 2023	Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana	YouTube	P	P	P

2023 Louisiana Treasurer election jungle primary^[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John Fleming	442,668	44.04%
	Democratic	Dustin Granger	321,423	31.98%
	Republican	Scott McKnight	241,125	23.99%
Total votes			1,005,221	100.0%

Runoff

2023 Louisiana Treasurer runoff election^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	John Fleming	437,303	65.44%	+5.43
	Democratic	Dustin Granger	230,961	34.56%	+0.03
Total votes			668,264	100.0%

Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry

Incumbent Agriculture commissioner Mike Strain ran for re-election.

Candidates

Declared

• Mike Strain (Republican), incumbent commissioner^[25]

Results

2023 Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Mike Strain (incumbent)
Total votes

Commissioner of Insurance

Incumbent Insurance commissioner Jim Donelon retired.^[26]

Candidates

Declared

• Tim Temple (Republican), insurance executive and candidate for insurance commissioner in 2019^[27]

Declined

• Jim Donelon (Republican), incumbent commissioner^[26]

Results

2023 Louisiana Commissioner of Insurance election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Tim Temple
Total votes

Board of Elementary and Secondary Education

All eight members of the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education were up for re-election.

State legislature

Main articles: 2023 Louisiana State Senate election and 2023 Louisiana House of Representatives election

State senate

All 39 seats in the Louisiana State Senate were up for re-election.

Party		Leader	Before	After	Change
	Republican	Page Cortez (term-limited)	27	28	1
	Democratic	Gerald Boudreaux	12	11	1
Total			39	39

State House

All 105 seats in the Louisiana House of Representatives were up for re-election.

Party		Leader	Before	After	Change
	Republican	Clay Schexnayder (term-limited)	71	73	2
	Democratic	Samuel Jenkins Jr. (retired)	33	32	1
	Independent		1	0	1
Total			105	105

Local

Caddo Parish Sheriff

The local race for Sheriff in Caddo Parish received national attention when Democrat Henry Whitehorn appeared to win the race by one vote against Republican John Nickelson.^[28] After more than 43,000 votes had been cast in the race, a recount still yielded a one-vote victory for Whitehorn.^[29] After the recount, Nickelson filed a lawsuit against Whitehorn and local election officials challenging the validity of the results and demanding that either he be declared the victor or a new election be held. A specially appointed judge, Joe Bleich, found that there had been 11 illegally cast votes and ordered a new election to take place no earlier than March 23, 2024.^[30] On appeal by Whitehorn, the Second Circuit Court of Appeal upheld the lower court's decision by a 3–2 margin.^[31] Whitehorn would go on to win the do-over election, this time expanding his lead to 4,000 against Nickelson, with Nickelson calling Whitehorn to concede the night of the election. After Sheriff Steve Prator's term expired on February 29, Chief Deputy Jay Long was sworn in as interim Sheriff while the special election was still underway.^[32] After Whitehorn's victory, he was sworn in as Caddo Parish Sheriff on June 28, 2024.^[33]

First election

Candidates

• Shayne Gibson (Republican), Sheriff of the Greenwood Police Department^[34]
• Patricia "Pat" Gilley (Democratic), retired attorney and former candidate for Caddo District Attorney in 2020^[34]
• Eric Hatfield (Republican), Chief Deputy Constable of Caddo Parish^[34]
• Hersey Jones Jr. (Democratic), neighborhood organizer^[34]
• John Nickelson (Republican), former member of the Shreveport City Council (advanced to run-off)^[34]
• Henry Whitehorn (Democratic), former Chief of Police of Shreveport (advanced to run-off)^[34]

Results

Caddo Parish Sheriff election jungle primary^[35]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John Nickelson	20,554	44.6%
	Democratic	Henry Whitehorn	15,890	34.5%
	Republican	Eric Hatfield	2,912	6.3%
	Democratic	Hersey Jones Jr.	2,473	5.4%
	Republican	Shayne Gibson	2,224	4.8%
	Democratic	Patricia "Pat" Gilley	2,001	4.4%
Total votes			46,054	100%

Caddo Parish Sheriff runoff election (invalidated)^[35]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Henry Whitehorn	21,624	50.0012%	+15.5
	Republican	John Nickelson	21,623	49.9988%	+5.5
Total votes			43,247	100%	N/A

Second election

Caddo Parish Sheriff runoff election (do-over)^[35]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Henry Whitehorn	34,752	53.3%	+3.3
	Republican	John Nickelson	30,487	46.7%	−3.3
Total votes			65,239	100%	N/A

See also

• Elections in Louisiana
• Politics of Louisiana
• Political party strength in Louisiana

Notes

1. Key:
   A – all adults
   RV – registered voters
   LV – likely voters
   V – unclear

1. Poll commissioned by LA Integrity PAC

References

1. "Louisiana elections, 2023". Ballotpedia.org. Retrieved December 25, 2022.
2. "Louisiana Constitution of 1974" (PDF). Government of Louisiana. Retrieved December 25, 2022.
3. Karlin, Sam. "Billy Nungesser to announce he's not running for governor, will seek re-election". The Advocate. Retrieved January 9, 2023.
4. "Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry announces he is running for governor". WDSU. October 6, 2022. Retrieved December 25, 2022.
5. Hilburn, Greg (April 11, 2023). "Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin won't seek reelection". The Lafayette Daily Advertiser.
6. "Nancy Landry, former state representative, joins field for secretary of state".
7. Jones, Paula (June 8, 2023). "Baton Rouge attorney Gwen Collins-Greenup announces run for secretary of state". BRProud. Retrieved June 29, 2023.
8. "PSC member Mike Francis to run for secretary of state against fellow Republican Ardoin". The Gonzales Weekly Citizen. December 8, 2022. Retrieved December 25, 2022.
9. "Amanda Jennings". KTBS-TV. September 13, 2023. Retrieved September 20, 2023.
10. "Thomas Kennedy". KTBS-TV. September 13, 2023. Retrieved September 20, 2023.
11. Hutchinson, Piper (August 10, 2023). "Longtime New Orleans elected official makes surprise entry to Louisiana Secretary of State race". Louisiana Illuminator. Retrieved September 20, 2023.
12. "Louisiana House Speaker Clay Schexnayder makes it official, will run for secretary of state".
13. "Brandon Trosclair announces candidacy for Secretary of State". The Gonzales Weekly Citizen. December 8, 2022. Retrieved December 25, 2022.
14. Skinner, Victor (September 21, 2023). "Five Louisiana secretary of state candidates offer views in forum". The Center Square. Retrieved October 13, 2023.
15. The Trafalgar Group (R)
16. "Official Results for Election Date: 10/14/2023 Secretary of State".
17. "Louisiana General Election Results". The New York Times. Retrieved November 19, 2023.
18. "La. State Treasurer John Schroder officially joins race for governor". WAFB. January 9, 2023. Retrieved January 9, 2023.
19. Gallagher, Kevin (March 8, 2023). "Former Congressman John Fleming to run for State Treasurer". Louisiana Radio Network. Retrieved March 8, 2023.
20. "Dustin Granger announces for treasurer, calls for investments in clean energy".
21. "State Representative Scott McKnight Announces Candidacy for Louisiana State Treasurer". www.lobservateur.com. June 12, 2022. Retrieved December 25, 2022.
22. O'Donoghue, Julie (October 9, 2023). "John Schroder endorses Scott McKnight in Louisiana treasurer race". Louisiana Illuminator. Retrieved October 9, 2023.
23. "Official Results for Election Date: 10/14/2023 Treasurer".
24. "John Fleming wins race for Louisiana Treasurer". Retrieved November 19, 2023.
25. "LOUISIANA. State Agriculture Comm Mike Strain (R) announced he will seek reelection next year to a fifth term; will not run for Governor". September 15, 2022. Retrieved December 25, 2022.
26. "Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon announces he will not seek reelection". WDSU News. March 14, 2023. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
27. Thorington, Brooke (October 17, 2022). "Tim Temple officially throws his name in the hat for another run at Insurance Commissioner". Louisiana Radio Network. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
28. Dawson, Daffney; Maxwell, Steven (November 20, 2023). "'Every vote counts': Sheriff-Elect Henry Whitehorn speaks on election, future goals". KSLA. Retrieved April 13, 2024.
29. Louisiana Illuminator (November 27, 2023). "Win margin in Caddo sheriff's race still one vote after recount". Retrieved April 13, 2024.
30. Vargas, Ramon Antonio (December 6, 2023). "New election ordered in Louisiana sheriffs race won by one vote". Retrieved April 13, 2024.
31. "Court upholds judge's ruling ordering new election in Louisiana sheriff's race decided by one vote". apnews.com. AP. December 13, 2023. Retrieved April 13, 2024.
32. Thomas, Rachel (March 1, 2024). "Interim Caddo Parish sheriff sworn in". ksla.com. KSLA. Retrieved September 18, 2024.
33. Maxwell, Steven; Franklin, Jasmine (July 1, 2024). "Caddo's first Black sheriff puts on his new badge". ksla.com. KSLA. Retrieved September 18, 2024.
34. Dawson, Daffney; Heyen, Curtis (September 21, 2023). "Nickelson, Whitehorn in runoff for Caddo Parish sheriff". KSLA. Retrieved April 13, 2024.
35. "Sheriff". Secretary of State of Louisiana. October 14, 2023. Retrieved April 13, 2024.

External links

Official campaign websites for Secretary of State

• Gwen Collins-Greenup (D) for Secretary of State
• Nancy Landry (R) for Secretary of State

Official campaign websites for Treasurer

• John Fleming (R) for Treasurer
• Dustin Granger (D) for Treasurer

Official campaign websites for Commissioner of Insurance

• Tim Temple (R) for Insurance Commissioner