Eddie Rispone

Rispone was raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His father worked as a compressor machinist at an oil refinery owned by Standard Oil, and his mother was a homemaker. He has five brothers and one sister.^[1][2]

Rispone graduated from Redemptorist High School in Baton Rouge. In high school, he played football as a linebacker and offensive guard, and was named to the all-state team in his senior year.^[3] He graduated from Louisiana State University, with a concentration in construction technology, in 1972.^[1][2]

Rispone began working in construction while he was still in school. In 1989, he and his brother Jerry founded ISC Constructors; in 2017 he said that the company had annual revenues of $350 million.^[2] In 2000 he criticized a tax increase approved by a state house committee stating that "this has the potential to wipe out all of our profits" due to his business operating on a small profit.^[4] In 2003 he was elected the national chairman of the Associated Builders and Contractors.^[2] The Louisiana Federation for Children, which advocates for school vouchers, named Rispone as its chairman in 2011. Governor Bobby Jindal appointed him to chair the Louisiana Workforce Investment Council.^[1]

In October 2018, Rispone declared his candidacy in the 2019 Louisiana gubernatorial election as a Republican.^[5] On October 12, 2019, Rispone finished in second place in the all-candidate election with 27% of the vote, behind incumbent John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, who received 47%, and ahead of Republican congressman Ralph Abraham, who received 24%. Rispone and Edwards advanced to the November 16 runoff election.^[6] Edwards defeated Rispone in the runoff election.^[7]

Rispone and his first wife, Phyllis, were married for 35 years. She died in 2005 of cancer.^[2] Rispone married his second wife, Linda, in 2007. He and Linda have seven children and 24 grandchildren as of September 2019.^[1]