BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana’s Governor Blanco, whose popularity plummeted after two hurricanes devastated Louisiana during her term, announced yesterday that she will not seek re-election.

The decision will let her get what she called important initiatives through an upcoming legislative session without having to worry about political considerations, she said.

“I am doing this so we can work without interference from election year politics,” Ms. Blanco said.

She had already broken the news in phone calls to legislative leaders, a meeting with her Cabinet secretaries, and in a letter to her staff.

Ms. Blanco, a Democrat from the state’s Cajun country, had already drawn a half-dozen challengers for this fall’s election — including a popular Republican lawmaker, Rep. Bobby Jindal. She defeated him in 2003 with 52% of the vote to become Louisiana’s first female governor.

A former senator, John Breaux, a popular Democrat, has said he will decide soon whether to enter the race.

Ms. Blanco, 64, was seen as so politically weakened by hurricanes Katrina and Rita that Democratic powerbrokers questioned behind the scenes whether she was reelectable or whether she should step aside to give another Democratic candidate a better chance at the post.