| | Therefore, Jim Brown secured nearly all of the votes obtained by Jeffers, and most of Bruce's supporters presumably switched to Thompson. Brown won the [[general election]] with 665,608 votes (51.1 percent) to Thompson's 617,907 (48.9 percent). The percent for Brown and Jeffers from the primary was a combined 52.2 percent, or 1.1 percentage points more than what Brown finally received in the final phase of the race. Thompson and Bruce in the first round of balloting had a combined 47.7 percent, or 1.2 percentage points below what Thompson finally received.<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, December 16, 1971.</ref> For years, Thompson said that she never expected to lose the race. In 1983, she attempted to unseat East Baton Rouge Parish Clerk of Court Mike Cannon. Though she ran well enough to make the general election, she again was defeated.<ref>Louisianan Secretary of State, Election Returns, October 22, 1983.</ref> | | Therefore, Jim Brown secured nearly all of the votes obtained by Jeffers, and most of Bruce's supporters presumably switched to Thompson. Brown won the [[general election]] with 665,608 votes (51.1 percent) to Thompson's 617,907 (48.9 percent). The percent for Brown and Jeffers from the primary was a combined 52.2 percent, or 1.1 percentage points more than what Brown finally received in the final phase of the race. Thompson and Bruce in the first round of balloting had a combined 47.7 percent, or 1.2 percentage points below what Thompson finally received.<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, December 16, 1971.</ref> For years, Thompson said that she never expected to lose the race. In 1983, she attempted to unseat East Baton Rouge Parish Clerk of Court Mike Cannon. Though she ran well enough to make the general election, she again was defeated.<ref>Louisianan Secretary of State, Election Returns, October 22, 1983.</ref> |
| | After the secretary of state's race, Thompson owned and operated an [[oil]]field trucking company in Baton Rouge. Republican Governor [[Mike Foster]], called her back to state government in 1996 to work in his new administration. She was named director of the Atchafalaya Basin Program, when it was re-established in 1998 by state law as a 15-year plan to work with the United States Army Corps of Engineers and other entities for the federally sponsored Atchafalaya Basin Floodway System. In the Atchafalaya project during the Foster administration, Thompson worked under Natural Resources Secretary Scott Angelle of Breaux Bridge. The media reported stories of strains in their professional relationship, and it was suggested that Thompson wanted to succeed Angelle, then a Democrat but later a Republican, in the [[Bobby Jindal]] administration.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/9555402.html?index=1&c=y|author=Steven K. Landry|title=Ex-Atchafalaya Basin official looks ahead: Sandra Thompson helps Jindal campaign|publisher=''The Baton Rouge Advocate'' (Acadiana Edition)|date=September 4, 2007; no longer on-line.}}</ref> In May 2010, Jindal announced the appointment of Angelle to serve on an interim basis as lieutenant governor until a [[special election]] was held in October 2010 to fill the remaining months of the term of [[Mitch Landrieu]], who left upon his election as the [[mayor]] of New Orleans, a post he vacated in 2019. Victory went to then Secretary of State Jay Dardenne of Baton Rouge, who in 2016 became the state commissioner of administration under Democratic Governor [[John Bel Edwards]]. | | After the secretary of state's race, Thompson owned and operated an [[oil]]field trucking company in Baton Rouge. Republican Governor [[Mike Foster]], called her back to state government in 1996 to work in his new administration. She was named director of the Atchafalaya Basin Program, when it was re-established in 1998 by state law as a 15-year plan to work with the United States Army Corps of Engineers and other entities for the federally sponsored Atchafalaya Basin Floodway System. In the Atchafalaya project during the Foster administration, Thompson worked under Natural Resources Secretary Scott Angelle of Breaux Bridge. The media reported stories of strains in their professional relationship, and it was suggested that Thompson wanted to succeed Angelle, then a Democrat but later a Republican, in the [[Bobby Jindal]] administration.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/9555402.html?index=1&c=y|author=Steven K. Landry|title=Ex-Atchafalaya Basin official looks ahead: Sandra Thompson helps Jindal campaign|publisher=''The Baton Rouge Advocate'' (Acadiana Edition)|date=September 4, 2007; no longer on-line.}}</ref> In May 2010, Jindal announced the appointment of Angelle to serve on an interim basis as lieutenant governor until a [[special election]] was held in October 2010 to fill the remaining months of the term of [[Mitch Landrieu]], who left upon his election as the [[mayor]] of New Orleans, a post he vacated in 2019. Victory went to then Secretary of State Jay Dardenne of Baton Rouge, who in 2016 became the state commissioner of administration under Democratic Governor [[John Bel Edwards]]. |