Republicans flip Louisiana governor’s mansion

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry is projected to win the state’s gubernatorial race, according to The Associated Press, handing Republicans control of the top executive office there for the first time since 2016.

Landry competed alongside more than a dozen other people in the jungle primary, in which candidates appear on the same ballot regardless of party. If no candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote, the race would have headed to a runoff between the top two vote-getters. But because Landry won more than half the vote as of late Saturday night, he is projected to win the race outright.

While Landry, a hard-right Republican with the backing of former President Trump, was widely viewed as the favorite heading into Saturday, many political observers expected him to face off against Democrat Shawn Wilson for a second round of voting in November.