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Vitter was handily defeated in a race on November 21, 2015, for governor of Louisiana. He lost to Democratic challenger, State Representative [[John Bel Edwards]], a long-time supporter of [[U.S. President]] [[Barack H. Obama]] and [[Hillary Rodham Clinton]]. Edwards consistently led in pre-election polls in the race. Edwards focused his campaign on Vitter's connection with the escort service though Vitter had won reelection in 2010 with the issue having barely surfaced in the political discussion.

Vitter was handily defeated in a race on November 21, 2015, for governor of Louisiana. He lost to Democratic challenger, State Representative [[John Bel Edwards]], a long-time supporter of [[U.S. President]] [[Barack H. Obama]] and [[Hillary Rodham Clinton]]. Edwards consistently led in pre-election polls in the race. Edwards focused his campaign on Vitter's connection with the escort service though Vitter had won reelection in 2010 with the issue having barely surfaced in the political discussion.

After his defeat for governor, Vitter announced that he would not seek a third term in the Senate in 2016. After numerous failed campaigns, David Duke ran to succeed Vitter for the Senate but finished in seventh place among twenty-four candidates with 3 percent of the ballots cast. The sixth-placed candidate, [[Rob Maness]], a retired colonel in the [[United States Air Force]], had backed Vitter in the governor's race through his Gator political action committee. Other eliminated candidates were U.S. Representatives Charles Boustany of Lafayette and [[John Fleming]] of [[Minden, Louisiana|Minden]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://voterportal.sos.la.gov/Graphical|title=Election Returns|date=November 8, 2016|publisher=Louisiana Secretary of State|accessdate=November 10, 2016}}</ref> Vitter will instead be succeeded on January 3, 2017, by either Republican state Treasurer John Neely Kennedy or the Democrat Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell of Bossier Parish. Kennedy and Campbell finished in the top two positions in the primary and will meet in a December 10 runoff contest.

After his defeat for governor, Vitter announced that he would not seek a third term in the Senate in 2016. After numerous failed campaigns, David Duke ran to succeed Vitter for the Senate but finished in seventh place among twenty-four candidates with 3 percent of the ballots cast. The sixth-placed candidate, [[Rob Maness]], a retired colonel in the [[United States Air Force]], had backed Vitter in the governor's race through his Gator political action committee. Other eliminated candidates were U.S. Representatives Charles Boustany of [[Lafayette]] and [[John Fleming]] of [[Minden, Louisiana|Minden]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://voterportal.sos.la.gov/Graphical|title=Election Returns|date=November 8, 2016|publisher=Louisiana Secretary of State|accessdate=November 10, 2016}}</ref> Vitter will instead be succeeded on January 3, 2017, by either Republican state Treasurer John Neely Kennedy or the Democrat Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell of Bossier Parish. Kennedy and Campbell finished in the top two positions in the primary and will meet in a December 10 runoff contest.

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