Blanco, Kathleen Babineaux, 1942-2019

Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (December 15, 1942 – August 18, 2019) was an American politician who served as the 54th Governor of Louisiana from January 2004 to January 2008. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the first and, as of 2021, only woman elected as the state's governor.

A native of New Iberia, Louisiana, Kathleen Marie Babineaux was raised there and in the rural hamlet of Coteau, Louisiana. After attending Mount Carmel Academy, Blanco received a Bachelor of Science in Business Education from the University of Southwest Louisiana. Following college, Blanco taught business at Breaux Bridge High School before spending roughly fifteen years as a stay-at-home mom for her six children. She later worked as a District Manager for the U.S. Department of Commerce during the 1980 Census initiative and with her husband, owned Coteau Consultants, a political and marketing research firm.

Blanco began her career as a public servant in 1984, when she became the first woman ever elected to represent the people of Lafayette in the state legislature. Five years later she was elected to the Public Service Commission, where she became the first woman to serve as a commissioner and, later, she was the first woman to chair the Commission, from 1993 to 1994. Blanco was elected lieutenant governor in 1995, and was overwhelmingly reelected to her second term in 1999, winning 80 percent of the vote. Blanco was elected Governor on November 15, 2003, defeating her Republican opponent Bobby Jindal in the general election, by a margin of 52 to 48 percent. With greatly reduced popularity stemming from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Blanco announced on March 20, 2007 that she would not seek re-election. Jindal succeeded her in January 2008.

In December 2017, Blanco was diagnosed with ocular melanoma metastatic to her liver, dying from the disease in Lafayette, Louisiana on August 18, 2019.