Here Are The Republicans Running In This Red State’s Attempt To Take Back The Governorship
MARY LOU MASTERS CONTRIBUTOR April 11, 2023
Several Republican candidates are vying for the opportunity to take back the governorship from term-limited, Democratic Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards in 2023.
The GOP contenders are largely running on crime, education and the economy, ahead of the state’s jungle primary in October, they told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“I am running for Governor of Louisiana because I know that Louisiana deserves a government as good as our people, and we’re not getting it,” Attorney General and Republican candidate Jeff Landry told the DCNF.
The GOP has the chance to take back the governor’s mansion in Louisiana this November, and several Republican candidates are vying for a shot.
Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards is reaching his term limit in a state that is almost entirely red. Several Republicans believe the Democratic leadership is to blame for Louisiana’s problems, and are running on issues like crime, education and lowering taxes, they told the Daily Caller News Foundation. (RELATED: The GOP Could Flip Two Democratic-Held Governor Seats)
Louisiana has an open primary system, or jungle primary, on Oct. 14 where all of the candidates, regardless of their party affiliation, will go up against one another. If no one gets the majority of the vote, the top two candidates will go to the general election on Nov. 18.
Attorney General Jeff Landry is an Army veteran, a former law enforcement officer, a former executive director of the St. Martin Parish Economic Development Authority and started his own oil and gas service company, according to his campaign website. The attorney general went on to serve Louisiana in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2011-2013 and lost reelection.
Landry is the clear frontrunner among Republicans, and already has the endorsement of the Louisiana Republican Party. The attorney general is just behind Democratic candidate Shawn Wilson, 28% to 29%, respectively, according to the most recent polling available from JMC Analytics on March 15.
The attorney general intends on being the “law-and-order” candidate for governor who will protect Louisiana families, noting the state’s high crime rates, he told the DCNF; Louisiana has the highest crime rate in the country with 564 violent crimes per 100,000 people. Landry also hopes to increase child literacy and boost the economy.
“The message I intend to send as Governor is that Louisiana is going to be a safe place — and by becoming a safe place, Louisiana is going to become an economically prosperous place,” Landry told the DCNF. “I am running for Governor of Louisiana because I know that Louisiana deserves a government as good as our people, and we’re not getting it.”
Landry is a “controversial,” “pro-Trump, MAGA conservative,” Ron Faucheux, a nonpartisan political analyst and former member of Louisiana’s state Legislature, previously told the DCNF. The real question in this race will be whether another GOP candidate can garner enough traction to become the “anti-Landry” candidate.
Former president of the Louisiana Business Association Stephen Waguespack, who served as former Gov. Bobby Jindal’s chief of staff, jumped into the race recently, so polling for the businessman is not yet available. He intends to implement school choice, tax reform and slash government regulation and bureaucracies, he told the DCNF.
Originally published in the Daily Caller