Edward Lee Rispone ( ; born January 21, 1949) is an American businessman and politician from the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * '' Our ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a U.S. state, state in the Deep South and South Central United States, South Central regions of the United States. It is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 20th-smal ...

. He ran as a Republican Party candidate for Governor of Louisiana in the 2019 election, losing to incumbent Democrat

John Bel Edwards John Bel Edwards (born September 16, 1966) is an American politician and attorney serving as the 56th governor of Louisiana since 2016. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the Democratic leader of the Louisiana House of ...

Early life and education

Rispone was raised in

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of count ...

. His father worked as a compressor machinist at an

oil refinery An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial processes, industrial process Factory, plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refining, refined into useful products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, asphalt, asphalt ...

owned by

Standard Oil Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co- ...

, and his mother was a homemaker. He has five brothers and one sister. Rispone graduated from

Redemptorist High School Redemptorist Upper School was a parochial Roman Catholic high school in North Baton Rouge, Louisiana, supervised by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge. History St. Gerard Majella Church Parish was established in 1944. St. Gerard High Schoo ...

in Baton Rouge. In high school, he played football as a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, pl ...

and

offensive guard Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict in ...

, and was named to the all-state team in his senior year. He graduated from

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

, with a concentration in construction technology, in 1972.

Career

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. 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. In 2003 he was elected the national chairman of the

Associated Builders and Contractors Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) is a national U.S. trade association representing the non-union construction industry. ABC is an association of 69 chapters with more than 22,000 commercial contractors and construction-related firms a ...

. The Louisiana Federation for Children, which advocates for

school voucher A school voucher, also called an education voucher in a voucher system, is a certificate of government funding for students at schools chosen by themselves or their parents. Funding is usually for a particular year, term, or semester. In some cou ...

s, named Rispone as its chairman in 2011. Governor

Bobby Jindal Piyush "Bobby" Jindal (born June 10, 1971) is an American politician who served as the 55th Governor of Louisiana from 2008 to 2016. The only living former Louisiana governor, Jindal also served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives ...

appointed him to chair the Louisiana Workforce Investment Council. In October 2018, Rispone declared his candidacy in the

2019 Louisiana gubernatorial election The 2019 Louisiana gubernatorial election was held to elect the governor of Louisiana. Incumbent Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards won re-election to a second term, defeating Republican businessman Eddie Rispone. Edwards became the first ...

as a Republican. On October 12, 2019, Rispone finished in second place in the all-candidate election with 27% of the vote, behind

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seeking re-el ...

, 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. Edwards defeated Rispone in the runoff election.

Personal life

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

Electoral history

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rispone, Eddie 1949 births 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century American politicians American construction businesspeople Businesspeople from Louisiana Candidates in the 2019 United States elections Living people Louisiana Republicans Louisiana State University alumni Politicians from Baton Rouge, Louisiana