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70 for 70: Buddy Roemer made history as first US governor to switch parties while in office
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BATON ROUGE — When Buddy Roemer was inaugurated as governor in March 1988, he promised a revolution.
And he certainly made history during his term, being the first governor in U.S. history to switch political parties while in office, becoming a Republican after a successful bid as a Democrat.
He ran for reelection in 1991, facing opposition from former Gov. Edwin Edwards and former KKK leader David Duke. Edwards and Roemer engaged in a particularly heated discussion during a WBRZ debate.
But Roemer didn't make the runoff, finishing third to Edwards and Duke.
He then bowed out of politics until 2012 when he ran for president, a run which itself ended due to a lack of ballot access.
Roemer died in 2021 at the age of 77, remembered for reform and his "revolution" that the New York Times wrote was the answer to the scandal-plagued Edwards administration.
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