NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer has died at 77 after a long battle with diabetes. Roemer's son Chas Roemer says his father died Monday morning at his home in Baton Rouge, surrounded by family. Roemer was a conservative Democratic congressman from north Louisiana when he entered the 1987 governor’s race and ousted Edwin Edwards. There were legislative battles over budgets, tax matters and abortion. Roemer’s veto of an abortion ban that he said didn’t have adequate exceptions for rape and incest victims was overridden in 1991. Roemer became a Republican that year. He lost a re-election battle in a divided field. Edwards and former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke wound up in a runoff that Edwards easily won.