Jim Donelon

Who is Jim Donelon?

James J. "Jim" Donelon has been the Republican insurance commissioner of Louisiana since February 15, 2006. Donelon won a full-term as commissioner in the October 20, 2007 nonpartisan blanket primary. He finished with 606,534 votes and defeated three opponents, the closest of whom, Democrat Jim Crowley, polled 423,722. Two other Republican candidates garnered the remaining 13 percent.

Donelon was first elected to complete a 15-month unexpired term as insurance commissioner in a special election held on September 30, 2006. He polled 50.1 percent of the ballots cast in a low-turnout election. His 283,316 votes were 847 more than the tabulations of his two opponents combined. Republican state Senator James David Cain of Sabine Parish polled 222,414; S.B.A. Zaitoon of the Libertarian Party, received 60,094 votes. There was no Democrat in the special election. Donelon ran strongest in urban areas; Cain, in rural parishes and small towns.

Donelon became commissioner when Democrat J. Robert Wooley resigned to become a lobbyist for the high-powered law firm Adams and Reese in Baton Rouge. Wooley appointed Donelon as his first deputy in 2001, and under the Louisiana Constitution of 1974, Donelon automatically became temporary commissioner.