Long carried 47 of 64 parishes, including the majority of rural parishes in both Anglo-Saxon Protestant northern and French Catholic southern Louisiana, a nearly unprecedented accomplishment up to that time. Only New Orleans, still firmly controlled by the Regular Democratic Organization, spurned Long in favor of the machine's chosen candidate Wilson. The political upheaval of Long's 1928 victory spurred a realignment in Louisiana politics based on urban-rural and class-based divisions rather than the religious and cultural divisions which had predominated up to that time. In every state election from 1928 to 1960, the legacy of Huey Long would be the primary campaign issue.