Jay Dardenne


John Leigh "Jay" Dardenne, Jr. is an American lawyer and politician from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who is serving as commissioner of administration for Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards. A Rockefeller Republican, Dardenne served as the 53rd lieutenant governor of his state from 2010 to 2016. Running as a Republican, he won a special election for lieutenant governor held in conjunction with the regular November 2, 2010 general election. At the time, Dardenne was Louisiana secretary of state. Formerly, Dardenne was a member of the Louisiana State Senate for the Baton Rouge suburbs, a position he filled from 1992 until his election as secretary of state on September 30, 2006.

Political overview

Dardenne was reelected to a full term as secretary of state in the October 20, 2007, nonpartisan blanket primary with 758,156 votes to 373,956 for the Democrat R. Rick Wooley. A "No Party" candidate, Scott Lewis, received the remaining 64,704 votes. Dardenne won fifty-eight of the state's sixty-four parishes. He outpolled gubernatorial candidate Bobby Jindal, a fellow Republican, in raw votes and won sixty-one parishes to Jindal's sixty.
On November 2, 2010, Dardenne was elected lieutenant governor when he defeated Caroline Fayard, a young Democrat originally from Denham Springs in Livingston Parish. Tom Schedler, Dardenne's chief deputy in the secretary of state's office, succeeded him as acting secretary of state when Dardenne was sworn in as lieutenant governor.
Dardenne polled 719,243 votes to Fayard's 540,633. Dardenne won most of the sixty-four parishes but lost Orleans, Caddo, and St. Landry.

Background

Dardenne is one of two sons of the late Tonet and Johnny Dardenne; his grandparents were Nathan and Ula Coronna Abramson and Teakle Wallis "T. W." and Esther Cohn Dardenne. His younger brother, Richard James Dardenne, was a basketball and track coach who spent his last years in Fort Worth, Texas.
Dardenne is married to the former Catherine "Cathy" McDonald. The couple has two sons: John Dardenne of Los Angeles, California, and Matthew Dardenne of Baton Rouge.
Dardenne is Jewish and a graduate of Baton Rouge High School and Louisiana State University, from which he obtained a Bachelor of Arts in journalism. He earned a degree from the Louisiana State University Law Center. He was elected student body president at LSU. He is a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity.
luncheon in the Twelve Oaks Cafeteria at Southeastern Louisiana University on the topic of Louisiana's historical political figures.
Dardenne is active in social and civic endeavors in his native Baton Rouge and through non-profit organizations throughout Louisiana. He volunteers with the Muscular Dystrophy Association, the annual Labor Day Telethon, the Cerebral Palsy Foundation, and the River City Festivals Association. He serves as chairman of the U.S. National Senior Sports Classic, and has served as president of ten non-profit organizations in the greater Baton Rouge Community.
Dardenne has played with fiction and won "Dishonorable Mentions" for his entries in the 2008 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, a competition where contestants submit bad opening lines to imaginary novels. Dardenne also won the 'Most Vile Pun' award in the 2006 contest.

State senator

In 1987, Dardenne narrowly lost his first race for the District 15 state Senate seat to the Democrat Larry S. Bankston, one of three sons of former Democratic state party chairman and centenarian Jesse Bankston. Dardenne then won an election for a seat on the East Baton Rouge Metropolitan Council and held that seat until 1992.
In 1991, Dardenne ran the District 16 seat in the state Senate vacated by the retiring Democrat-turned-Republican Kenneth Osterberger. In the primary, Dardenne trailed fellow Republican Lynda Imes, the District 8 member of the East Baton Rouge Metro Council. However, in the general election, Dardenne defeated Imes. Dardenne quickly gained a reputation as a champion of reform and a thorn in the side of Democratic Governor Edwin Washington Edwards. However, few of his reform proposals were enacted.
Following the election of Republican Murphy J. "Mike" Foster, Jr., as governor in 1995, Dardenne became the governor's floor leader and began to pass landmark legislation. He continued to push unsuccessfully for reforms in the administration of Foster's successor, Democrat Kathleen Babineaux Blanco. He did help pass constitutional amendments on term limits, coastal erosion, and victims' rights. He worked for the creation of a single State Board of Ethics, spearheading reform of the river pilots' system, and reducing government waste as the chairman of the Louisiana Senate Finance Committee.
In 2003, Dardenne was named the "National Republican Legislator of the Year".

Secretary of state candidacy and transition

Dardenne ran in the September 30 special election to complete the term vacated by the death of former Secretary of State W. Fox McKeithen, a fellow Republican who died in the summer of 2005. former Democratic State Representative Al Ater of Ferriday in Concordia Parish, was assistant secretary of state under McKeithen and served as acting until a new secretary was elected. He was a friend of McKeithen and former Democratic State Representative. He chose not to run for the post in the special election.
The major candidates in the race were Dardenne, Democratic state Senator Francis C. Heitmeier of New Orleans and Republican former State Chairman Mike Francis of Lafayette and Crowley. The race was characterized by attacks on Dardenne from Francis over predominantly social issues, including Dardenne's vote as Senator in the 1990s for language in the federal Hyde Amendment which allows for federally funded abortions in the case of rape or incest. These exceptions have been included since 1977 in response to women's rights advocates, while abortion opponents argue that they punish the unborn for the crimes of the fathers. Dardenne maintained that his vote was required to ensure Louisiana continuing to receive Medicaid funds.
Despite these attacks, Dardenne was able to project himself as the candidate of reform in the race, and racked up huge numbers of votes in the Baton Rouge area, the suburbs of New Orleans, and even in the heavily Democratic city of New Orleans. He campaigned in North Louisiana with assistance of Aubrey W. Young, a former state official and grass roots organizer originally from Monroe, whose service dated back to the role of aide de camp under Governor John J. McKeithen, the father of Fox McKeithen.
Dardenne received 30 percent of the vote in the primary; Heitmeier, 28 percent, and Francis, 26 percent. Minor candidates took the rest of the vote. A Dardenne v. Heitmeier runoff loomed. Francis chose not to endorse either candidate and said he would run for the seat in the 2007 regular election. In the end, Francis did not run for the position in the regular primary held on October 20, 2007.
About two weeks into the special election runoff campaign, Heitmeier withdrew. He said that his New Orleans Democratic voter base had been decimated because of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, as tens of thousands of people had to evacuate the city before and after the destructive storm and flooding. He said that without help from national Democrats, victory over Dardenne would be impossible. According to Louisiana Political Report, his withdrawal may have been premature in light of the national Democratic sweep in the 2006 midterm elections.
Dardenne, Francis, and two minor Republican candidates together received 54 percent of the vote in the city of New Orleans, the power base for the state Democratic Party, reflecting changed demographics. Two months earlier, two Republican candidates for mayor of New Orleans together had barely polled 10 percent of the vote.

Secretary of state

Dardenne was elected, becoming the first known Jewish statewide constitutional officer in Louisiana since the 1800s, when both Judah P. Benjamin and Benjamin F. Jonas were U.S. senators; Judah Benjamin later served as Secretary of State of the Confederate States of America.
Dardenne announced that he would personally participate in anti-litter efforts in the state, even though such activities are not within the domain of his office. Dardenne told the Press Club of Baton Rouge that he saw too much litter as he traveled the state in his campaign for secretary of state. "The landscape of our state is...a window to the world. Anything we can do to call attention to this problem, we will do", Dardenne said.
He successfully pushed to cancel admission fees to the Louisiana State Exhibit Museum in Shreveport and the Old State Capitol and Old Arsenal Museum in Baton Rouge, saying that the financial loss from museum fees would be absorbed in his departmental budget through other cost reductions and that "people ought to be able to enjoy museums free of charge." Dardenne promoted tourism through his office, taking a special interest in the creation of the Delta Music Museum and the companion restoration in 2008 of the Arcade Theatre in Ferriday.
Dardenne pushed for what he termed election reform, but his suggestions restricted access to voting. Although the region and many citizens were still struggling with disruption due to Hurricane Katrina, he opposed establishing satellite voting areas throughout the state and elsewhere for the evacuees. Dardenne also proposed that poll commissioner fees be increased, election day hours be shortened, and an early voting period be established to compensate for reduced hours on Election Day.
Dardenne object to widespread satellite voting for Katrina evacuees because, he said, "if this bill passes, you are saying to them , you have to run an additional election for Orleans Parish. The 2006 mayoral race had received special consideration because no other elections were held on that day. Dardenne did support the reinstatement of absentee voting provisions from the election. The Louisiana House panel approved more satellite voting.
In December 2007, Dardenne named Tom Schedler of St. Tammany Parish, a Republican and former state Senate colleague, as his chief deputy. In 2008, Dardenne was mentioned as a possible United States Senate candidate against incumbent Democrat Mary Landrieu. The party supported State Treasurer John N. Kennedy, a Democrat who switched to the GOP before qualifying for reelection in 2007.

Lieutenant governor

On February 12, 2010, Dardenne announced his intention to run for Lieutenant Governor in the special election held on October 2. Leading a multi-candidate field with 28% of the ballots cast, Dardenne advanced to face Democrat Caroline Fayard, a previously political unknown who enjoyed the backing of former U.S. President Bill Clinton and trailed with 24% of the vote. The two were to meet in the November 2 general election. Three other Republican candidates were eliminated in the primary — singer Sammy Kershaw, St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis, and Louisiana Republican Party state chairman Roger F. Villere, Jr. — along with Democrat Butch Gautreaux, then a Louisiana state senator. Kershaw, Davis, and Villere endorsed fellow Republican Dardenne, as Gautreaux supported fellow Democrat Fayard. Results of the primary election—in the cases of Kershaw, Gautreaux, and Davis—were localized. Kershaw's appeal was in his home base of Acadiana and in rural areas where Country music is popular. Gautreaux's vote was largely in a radius around Morgan City. Davis won a strong plurality, 47 percent, in his home parish of Saint Tammany. Kershaw's rural appeal helped him carry 31 of the 64 parishes, more than any other candidate.
, which met in Southeastern Louisiana University's Twelve Oaks Cafeteria. His presentation included popular songs associated with historic Louisiana political figures. The office of the lieutenant governor is heavily involved in marketing the state for tourism. Dardenne believes that an untapped potential for Louisiana is to attract tourists on the basis of political legends. He recounted examples of humorous statements by former governors and State Senator Dudley J. LeBlanc, originator of Hadacol patent medicine.
Republican chairman Villere's endorsement of Dardenne, which came after months of criticizing the frontrunner, was met with incredulous statements like those of political scientist Pearson Cross of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette:
Dardenne and Fayard appeared on the October 15 episode of the news magazine Louisiana: The State We're In televised by Louisiana Public Broadcasting and in an October 22 forum sponsored by the Baton Rouge League of Women Voters.
On October 4, 2010, Southeastern Louisiana University political scientist summarized the runoff election between veteran officeholder Dardenne and political newcomer Fayard as "a very interesting, competitive race."
Political columnist John Maginnis joked that
The runoff campaign soon turned controversial as Dardenne described Fayard as a supporter of U.S. President Barack H. Obama, a proponent of gay marriage, and an opponent of the death penalty, while Fayard, who was 32 years of age and had never held political office, countered that Dardenne represented "the same old crowd" of Louisiana politics.
Stephanie Grace offered an explanation for Dardenne's emphasis on national political themes as an accommodation to the Tea Party movement in the backdrop of their having worked to defeat Hunt Downer, a veteran officeholder upset by a newcomer, Jeff Landry, in Louisiana's 3rd congressional district's 2010 Republican primary. For further information about the 2010 election, please see Louisiana state elections, 2010#Lieutenant Governor.

2011 reelection

The 2011 regular election for a four-year term as lieutenant governor was similarly raucous, as Dardenne was challenged by fellow Republican Billy Nungesser, president of Plaquemines Parish and the son of the late former Republican Party state chairman William A. Nungesser. In a low-turnout race, Dardenne defeated Nungesser, 504,228 votes to 444,750 ballots.
In 2012, Dardenne complained of the lack of funds needed for tourism advertising, a main prerogative of the lieutenant governor's office in Louisiana. On June 15, 2012, Governor Jindal used his line item veto to strip $2 million for tourism advertising from Dardenne's office budget. Jindal also took aim at more than $500,000 from the departmental operating funds of Louisiana State Treasurer John N. Kennedy.

2015 governor's race

Dardenne ran for governor of Louisiana in the October 24, 2015 primary election but finished in a fourth place with 166,553 votes. The contest then headed to a November 21 general election between the top vote-getter, Democrat John Bel Edwards, a state representative from Tangipahoa Parish, and his distant runner-up, Republican U.S. Senator David Vitter. Louisiana Public Service Commissioner Scott Angelle, Dardenne's predecessor as lieutenant governor, ran third but fell 41,200 votes short of obtaining a general election berth to the second-place candidate, Senator Vitter. Dardenne in turn trailed Angelle by more than 48,300 votes.
On November 5, Dardenne endorsed Democrat Edwards in the general election race against Dardenne's intraparty rival, David Vitter. He made the announcement at "Free Speech Alley" in front of the LSU Student Union building in Baton Rouge. Dardenne's backing of Edwards drew fire from state Republican chairman Roger Villere and Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, who termed the endorsement a betrayal: "You cannot claim to be a conservative fighter for Louisiana principles and publicly endorse an Obama liberal like Mr. Edwards," the two chairmen wrote. Edwards went on to win the election with more than 56 percent of the vote
Shortly after his election as governor, John Bel Edwards announced that Dardenne would become the new commissioner of administration.

Election history

;Louisiana State Senate, District 15, 1987
Threshold > 50%
First Ballot, October 24, 1987
CandidateAffiliationSupportOutcome
Larry S. BankstonDemocrat15,401 Runoff
John L. "Jay" Dardenne, Jr.Republican10,313 Runoff
Johnny H. DykesDemocratic3,790 Defeated
"Chuck" HallRepublican2,046 Defeated
Othersn.a.2,063 Defeated

Second Ballot, November 8, 1987
CandidateAffiliationSupportOutcome
Larry S. BankstonDemocratic12,619 Elected
John L. "Jay" Dardenne, Jr.Republican12,332 Defeated

;East Baton Rouge Metropolitan Council, District 12, 1988
Threshold > 50%
First Ballot, October 1, 1988
CandidateAffiliationSupportOutcome
John L. "Jay" Dardenne, Jr.Republican5,596 Winner
Craig S. WatsonDemocratic2,175 Defeated
"Pam" AtiyehRepublican1,005 Defeated
Mike KolakowskiDemocratic285 Defeated

;Louisiana State Senate, District 16, 1991
Threshold > 50%
First Ballot, October 19, 1991
CandidateAffiliationSupportOutcome
Lynda ImesRepublican21,679 Runoff
John L. "Jay" Dardenne, Jr.Republican18,642 Runoff
Francis PellegrinRepublican2,098 Defeated
Othersn.a.2,391 Defeated

Second Ballot, November 16, 1991
CandidateAffiliationSupportOutcome
John L. "Jay" Dardenne, Jr.Republican26,120 Elected
Lynda ImesRepublican23,934 Defeated

;Louisiana State Senate, District 16, 1995
CandidateAffiliationSupportOutcome
John L. "Jay" Dardenne, Jr.Republican–Unopposed

;Louisiana State Senate, District 16, 1999
CandidateAffiliationSupportOutcome
John L. "Jay" Dardenne, Jr.Republican–Unopposed

;Louisiana State Senate, District 16, 2003
Threshold > 50%
First Ballot, October 4, 2003
CandidateAffiliationSupportOutcome
Jay DardenneRepublican34,679 Elected
Chris WarnerRepublican9,758 Defeated

;Secretary of State of Louisiana, 2006
Threshold > 50%
First Ballot, September 30, 2006
CandidateAffiliationSupportOutcome
"Jay" DardenneRepublican191,562 Runoff
Francis C. HeitmeierDemocratic179,153 Runoff
"Mike" FrancisRepublican168,185 Defeated
Mary ChehardyRepublican56,225 Defeated
Othersn.a.48,802 Defeated

Second Ballot, November 7, 2006
CandidateAffiliationSupportOutcome
"Jay" DardenneRepublican–Elected
Francis C. HeitmeierDemocratic–Withdrawn

;Secretary of State of Louisiana, 2007
Threshold > 50%
First Ballot, October 20, 2007
CandidateAffiliationSupportOutcome
"Jay" DardenneRepublican757,821 Elected
"R." Rick WooleyDemocratic374,199 Defeated
Scott LewisIndependent64,723 Defeated

;Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana, 2010
Threshold > 50%
First Ballot, October 2, 2010
CandidateAffiliationSupportOutcome
"Jay" DardenneRepublican180,944 Runoff
Caroline FayardDemocratic159,507 Runoff
"Sammy" KershawRepublican126,166 Defeated
Kevin DavisRepublican51,542 Defeated
James "Jim" CrowleyDemocrat51,461 Defeated
Othersn.a.85,496 Defeated

Second Ballot, November 7, 2010
CandidateAffiliationSupportOutcome
"Jay" DardenneRepublican719,271 Elected
Caroline FayardDemocratic540,649 Defeated

;Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana, 2011
Threshold > 50%
First Ballot, October 22, 2011
CandidateAffiliationSupportOutcome
John L. "Jay" Dardenne, Jr.Republican504,228 Elected
Billy NungesserRepublican444,750 Defeated

All election results taken from the