Louisiana was won by Republican nominee John McCain by an 18.6% margin of victory. Prior to the election, all leading news organizations considered this a state McCain would win, or otherwise a "red state". Although Bill Clinton carried the state twice, it has since shifted strongly toward the Republican Party. This is despite its having one of the largest percentages of African Americans in the country, one of the Democratic Party's most reliable voting blocs and which gave record-breaking support to Obama, the first African American on a major-party presidential ticket. Its shift to the right has been due almost entirely to its white population, which has become overwhelmingly Republican in the 21st century. It was one of five states to swing Republican from 2004, along with West Virginia, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. This marked the first time that Louisiana failed to back the winning candidate since 1968, when it voted for a third-party candidate George Wallace. In doing so, Obama became the first winning Democratic presidential nominee to lose Louisiana since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. He was the first Democrat to ever win without Calcasieu Parish since the parish's founding in 1840.
In this election, Louisiana voted 25.9% to the right of the nation at-large, or a 13.85 percent bigger differential than in 2004.[1]
McCain won every pre-election poll. The final 3 polls averaged McCain leading 50% to 40%.[15]
Fundraising
John McCain raised a total of $2,175,416 in the state. Barack Obama raised $1,438,276.[16]
Advertising and visits
Obama spent $368,039. McCain and his interest groups spent $6,019.[17] McCain visited the state once, in New Orleans.[18]
Analysis
Voters wait in queue at a polling station in New Orleans
Polling in Louisiana gave a strong lead to McCain, sometimes as high as 19%,[19] and Barack Obama did not seriously contest the state. GovernorBobby Jindal endorsed McCain early on in the primary season. Louisiana was also one of only two states to list Ron Paul on their official ballot (the other being Montana which gave the largest percentage to any third-party candidate nationwide). This was the last time any parish flipped in the state in a presidential election until 2024.
At the same time, however, incumbent Democratic U.S. SenatorMary Landrieu avoided the Republican trend in the state and held onto her U.S. Senate seat, taking in 52.11% of the vote to State Treasurer John N. Kennedy, a Democrat who switched parties to run against Landrieu. Republicans picked up two U.S. House seats in Louisiana (LA-02 and LA-06 with Joseph Cao and Bill Cassidy, respectively). In a terrible year for the Republican Party nationwide, Louisiana provided the GOP with a ray of hope and optimism.
Results
2008 United States presidential election in Louisiana[20]
Technically the voters of Louisiana cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Louisiana is allocated 9 electors because it has 7 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 9 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and his or her running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all 9 electoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for president and vice president. Although electors are pledged to their candidate and running mate, they are not obligated to vote for them.[22] An elector who votes for someone other than his or her candidate is known as a faithless elector.
The electors of each state and the District of Columbia met on December 15, 2008, to cast their votes for president and vice president. The Electoral College itself never meets as one body. Instead the electors from each state and the District of Columbia met in their respective capitols.
The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All 9 were pledged to John McCain and Sarah Palin:[23]
Lynn Skidmore
Joe Lavigne
Gordon Giles - He replaced Billy Nungesser, who was absent due to illness.[24]
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