2003 Louisiana lieutenant gubernatorial election

Elections in Louisiana—with the exception of U.S. presidential elections—follow a variation of the open primary system called the jungle primary or the nonpartisan blanket primary. Candidates of any and all parties are listed on one ballot; voters need not limit themselves to the candidates of one party. Unless one candidate takes more than 50% of the vote in the first round, a run-off election is then held between the top two candidates, who may in fact be members of the same party. Texas uses this same format for its special elections. In this election, incumbent Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives Mitch Landrieu received more than 50% of the vote in the first round, so no run-off election was held.^[1]

On election day, October 4, 2003, incumbent Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives Mitch Landrieu defeated his foremost opponent former Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana's 8th district Clyde C. Holloway by a margin of 425,135 votes, thereby retaining Democratic control over the office of lieutenant governor. Landrieu was sworn in as the 51st Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana on January 12, 2004.^[2]