Rep. Bobby Jindal coasted to a first-round victory in the state's gubernatorial primary late last night and made history as the nation's first governor-elect of Indian-American descent. At 36, the two-term Republican congressman also will be the country's youngest governor when he takes office in January. Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt, a fellow Republican, turns 37 next month.Mr. Jindal and his 11 challengers were running to replace Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, a Democrat who decided in March not to run for re-election. She was widely criticized for her handling of the response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. Mrs. Blanco had defeated Mr. Jindal in the 2003 runoff election.
At 11 p.m. local time last night, with 87 percent of the precincts reporting, Mr. Jindal had 588,002 votes (53 percent), enough to avoid a Nov. 17 runoff. His closest challenger, millionaire state Sen. Walter Boasso, a Democrat, had 196,104 votes (18 percent), followed by New Orleans businessman John Georges, an independent, with 156,962 (14 percent) and Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell, a Democrat, with 141,346 votes (13 percent).