Governor Jeff Landry has suffered his first major defeat as Louisiana governor, as voters rejected the four constitutional amendments he championed.
All four amendments failed by a nearly two-to-one margin. The highest profile of the amendments, Amendment 2, which would have rewritten the tax-and-spend section of the Louisiana Constitution, died when 65 percent of voters said “no.” The other three amendments would have allowed the state legislature to create special courts outside of the jurisdiction of the state’s existing judicial districts, would have allowed the legislature to define what crimes for which teenagers could be prosecuted as adults, and would have changed the process for electing judges in the event of a vacancy.
Landry touted Amendment 2 as a means to provide teachers a pay raise. In actuality, Amendment 2 would have made a $2,000 teacher stipend implemented under Governor John Bel Edwards’s administration permanent. However, Landry warned in a social media post that a “no” vote could lead to that stipend expiring.
“If Amendment 2 does not pass, there is no teacher stipend or $2000 payment to our teachers,” Landry wrote on Facebook on Wednesday. “Let me be clear—If Amendment 2 does not pass Saturday, there is no backup stipend.”
The amendment also would have incorporated the state’s new flat income tax plan into the state constitution. That plan, which Landry pushed during last November’s special legislative session and which Landry signed into law in December, creates a three-percent flat tax for personal income and a flat five-and-a-half-percent tax for business income.
In a statement, Landry blamed a frequent target for Republican for the amendments' failures.
“The primary goal of Amendment 2 was to create a better opportunity for our citizens," Landry said. "To work towards inviting people into our State rather than have them leave. (sic) Unfortunately, (George) Soros and far left liberals poured millions into Louisiana with propaganda and outright lies about Amendment 2."
According to election data, the amendments failed not because of out-of-state interests but because voters in Landry's most reliable bases, especially in the Acadiana area, said "no" to the propositions. At least sixty percent of voters in Lafayette Parish, the reddest of Louisiana's metropolitan parishes, rejected each of the four amendments, with 65 percent of the electorate there saying "no" to Amendment 2. St. Martin Parish, Landry's home parish, shot down three of the amendments by a 51-49 margin with the last rejected by a 53-47 margin. In fact, only Vermilion and Acadia Parishes voted in favor of the four amendments. Iberia Parish approved Amendment 2 by a narrow margin while rejecting the other three.
Voter turnout also played a role in the amendments' defeat. According to the Louisiana Secretary of State's Office, 21.3 percent of voters cast ballots on Saturday, nearly double the number of voters who cast ballots in the December's election, the last election with only constitutional amendments on the statewide ballot. In addition, more voters in New Orleans went to the ballot box for Saturday's election (81,305) than for the 2023 gubernatorial election (71,312), with officials reporting a 30.8-percent voter turnout in the city. Orleans Parish said "no" to the four amendments by a 9-to-1 margin.
Landry hinted that he will attempt to revive these amendments in the future.
"Although we are disappointed in tonight’s results, we do not see this as a failure," Landry said. "We realize how hard positive change can be to implement in a State that is conditioned for failure. We will continue working to give our citizens more opportunities to keep more of their hard-earned money and provide a better future for Louisianians. This is not the end for us, and we will continue to fight to make the generational changes for Louisiana to succeed.”
Amendment 1: Granting the Louisiana Legislature power to create special courts not limited to parish or judicial district boundaries.
YES: 35% (221,334)
NO: 65% (412,082)
Amendment 2: A 115-page rewrite of the tax-and-spend portion of the Louisiana Constitution.
YES: 35% (224,085)
NO: 65% (410,083)
Amendment 3: Removing the list of 16 crimes for which juveniles can be charged as adults in Louisiana and allowing the legislature to create a more expansive list of crimes for which someone 17-years-old or younger could be charged as an adult.
YES: 34% (212,324)
NO: 66% (419,366)
Amendment 4: Setting special elections for judgeships for the next possible election date.
YES: 36% (229,597)
NO: 64% (401,499)