Former Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco dead at 76

Kathleen Blanco, former Louisiana governor, has died after a battle with cancer.

Blanco was elected to the governor’s office in 2003 after two terms as lieutenant governor. Hurricane Katrina dealt her state and her political career a crippling blow in 2005. Despite securing billions in federal aid for hurricane recovery and overseeing the reopening of New Orleans’ schools, Blanco declined to seek a second term as governor, reports The Advocate newspaper. She stepped down in 2008, leaving Louisiana with a $1 billion budget surplus.

Before Katrina, however, she was a popular pro-business, pro-gun governor with an eye to improving the state’s educational system.

In 2017, Blanco revealed she had received a diagnosis of a rare and incurable liver cancer.

She was 76.

Read more about her life and career here.