Earlier this week, we reported on the landslide election of Jeff Landry as governor of Louisiana as a win for school choice. School choice also won multiple down-ballot races.

The hardest-fought race was in a rural district outside Baton Rouge, where Valarie Hodges went up against Buddy Mincey Jr. in one of the most expensive races in the state. Hodges was one of the earliest school choice backers in the legislature, while Mincey was originally elected to the legislature as a Democrat, who served 13 years on his local school board.

Hodges was outspent by a flood of teachers union money designed to intimidate other pro-school choice supporters in the legislature. But Hodges won in a 65% to 35% landslide. The Hodges victory should send a signal to state legislators debating the choice issue this week in neighboring Texas that this can be a winning issue in rural areas.