Best’s News & Research Service - October 14, 2019 10:47 AM (EDT)
Donelon Retains Louisiana Insurance Commissioner’s Post
BATON ROUGE, La. //BestWire// - Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon fended off a challenge in statewide elections Oct. 12, securing his fourth term.
Donelon, a Republican, received 631,721 votes, 53.5% of all ballots cast, according to the Louisiana Department of State election returns.
Fellow Republican and political newcomer Tim Temple, who largely financed his campaign with his own money, trailed with 549,140 votes, or 46.5% of the total.
Temple put more than $1.5 million of his own money into the campaign and rode on what even Donelon acknowledged is Louisiana’s costly and broken automobile insurance market. Both candidates told Best’s News Service auto insurance is the No. 1 issue in the state (Best’s News Service, Oct. 2, 2019).
Donelon said the problem is in the state senate Judiciary Committee, which he said is controlled by lawyers who have blocked attempts at tort reform. “It’s not for lack of trying” that auto reform hasn’t happened, he said. Donelon did note during the campaign that State Farm, Progressive and the Southern Farm Bureau cut rates in recent months.
A former state representative, Donelon worked several years in the department’s bureaucracy until being elected in 2006. He admitted saying in the past he would not run for re-election — which Temple said was a factor in his candidacy — but said he felt he had too much invested in the department to quit.
Temple began his career as a neighborhood insurance agent and went on to having roles in the BP oil spill cleanup and New Jersey’s recovery from Hurricane Sandy. He runs a family financial and real estate holdings company.
(By Timothy Darragh, associate editor, BestWeek: Timothy.Darragh@ambest.com)