The early field included eight individuals considered to be "major" candidates. These were State Representative
Robert Adley, U.S. representative
Cleo Fields, State Senator
Mike Foster, U.S. representative
William J. Jefferson, State Treasurer
Mary Landrieu, former governor
Buddy Roemer, Lieutenant Governor
Melinda Schwegmann and former governor
Dave Treen. On September 8, Foster decided to switch his party affiliation at the time of qualifying from Democratic to Republican, this decision may have been noted as a gamechanger towards the outcome of the jungle primary. The makeup of the field led some analysts to dub this the "twins election", as each major candidate had a rival who appealed to a similar constituency or voter base. The sets of "twins" were: two mainstream Republican former governors (Treen and Roemer); two moderate Democratic female statewide office holders with ties to
New Orleans (Landrieu and Schwegmann); two conservative Democratic state legislators (Foster and Adley); and two liberal, black Democratic U.S. representatives (Fields and Jefferson). Treen and Jefferson eventually chose not to officially enter the race. Attorney
Phil Preis also entered the race as a Democrat and with a self-financed campaign was able to enter the top tier of candidates. Eight minor candidates, two Democrats and six Independents, also qualified for the ballot.
Democratic Party Declared • Gene H. Alexander • Belinda Alexandrenko •
Robert Adley, state representative •
Cleo Fields, U.S. representative •
Mary Landrieu,
Louisiana State Treasurer •
Phil Preis, attorney •
Melinda Schwegmann,
Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana Withdrew •
Harry Lee,
Sheriff of
Jefferson Parish Declined •
William J. Jefferson, U.S. representative
Republican Party Declared •
Mike Foster, state senator from
St. Mary Parish •
Buddy Roemer, former governor (1988-1992)
Declined •
Dave Treen, former governor
Independents Declared • Lonnie Creech • Ronnie Glynn Johnson, candidate for
Mayor of
Shreveport in 1990 and candidate for Governor
in 1991 • Arthur D. "Jim" Nichols • Anne Thompson, Republican candidate for Governor
in 1991, for
Louisiana's 1st congressional district in
1992 and for the State Senate in 1994 • Darryl Paul Ward, Democratic nominee for
Louisiana's 6th congressional district in
1994 • Kenneth Woods ==Results==