Bill Minor

Contributing Columnist

To me the most fascinating development in Southern politics in recent years was the stunning election of Democrat John Bel Edwards as governor of Louisiana. Not only did Edwards, 49, defeat sitting Republican Sen. David Vitter, but he won soundly with 56 percent of the vote.

Louisiana, Mississippi and Kentucky were the only states to hold governor's races in this off-year election. Both Mississippi and Kentucky re-elected Republican governors. But that's what makes Edwards' victory as a Democrat all that more significant.

Louisiana was regarded as much as Mississippi a Red State. It has been known for several years that the once-dominant Democratic Party in Mississippi had fallen into disarray, evidenced by Republicans winning control of the Legislature in 2011, and reaching a supermajority in the November statewide elections.

How solid the GOP control will be is yet to be determined with the outcome of several elections still being contested.

It was a long tradition in Mississippi that when a new governor was elected in a nearby Deep South state he was invited to appear at the inauguration of the Mississippi governor. Of course, that was in the days when the elected governors were all Democrats, even if they failed to support the national ticket. The out-of-staters were particularly welcome if they were noted as flamboyant racial demagogues.

You've heard nothing of Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant inviting Edwards to the state. Of course, Bryant, being a Republican, has no desire to recognize a Democrat.

While there will be no official delegation going to Edwards' inauguration, at least former Mississippi Gov. William Winter will be attending. Winter, a Democrat, served as governor from 1981 until 1984 at a time when Mississippi governors were limited to one term.

Winter also has a personal reason for attending the Edwards inauguration since a former fellow member of his law firm has been acquired by a large New Orleans-based firm. A female African-American attorney of the same firm has been picked to become general counsel by the incoming Louisiana governor.

A native of Amite, my boyhood hometown, Edwards attended West Point where he remained on the Dean's List while completing his engineering degree. After acquiring his commission as a second lieutenant, Edwards served in the 25th infantry division and became commander of a parachute regiment.

Edwards and his family (they have two girls and a boy) attend St. Helena Catholic Church in Amite where I formerly served as an altar boy many years ago. His inaugural day Monday will begin with a morning Mass at St. Joseph Cathedral in downtown Baton Rouge and end with a black-tie Inaugural Ball that night.

Edwards is personally a moderate-conservative on political issues, opposing abortion and gun control. But he strongly favors Medicaid expansion to qualify Louisiana under the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare. He also favors a moderate increase in the state's minimum wage law as well as better access to affordable higher education.

His stand on abortion and gun control puts him at odds with the present chairman of the state's Democratic Central Committee, left-leaning Karen Carter Peterson of New Orleans.

In Louisiana's Democratic Party system, the Central Committee controls the party. Since Edwards' victory in November, a faction of conservative Louisiana Democrats began a movement to steer the state party away from the national party's more liberal policies, in order to make it more attractive to rural voters.

One longtime Louisiana Democrat, Rep. Sam Jones of Franklin, said, "John Bel is the kind of Democrat that our parents and grandparents used to vote for. We should come back to the center."

Edwards' inauguration is expected to be considerably more modest than those of several past governors, lacking the uniqueness of when Gov. Earl K. Long passed out buttermilk to all comers and Gov. Mike Foster in 1996 served up gumbo, catfish and barbecue.

Bill Minor is a contributing columnist. Contact him at P.O. Box 1243, Jackson MS 39215.