I suppose we should be happy for our elected officials here in Louisiana, because they certainly seem content in the jobs we’ve given them.
First Bill Cassidy took a pass on running for governor, deciding instead to stay in the U.S. Senate and double down on national policy as ranking Republican on the committee overseeing health, education, labor and pensions. You’ve got to admit that the doctor from Baton Rouge is well-suited for the role.
Then John Kennedy said he too would return to Washington rather than seek the governor’s office. That seems fair, given that he just asked voters for a second six-year term and they took him up on it. It’s also in character — literally — as Kennedy has traded his longstanding image as a smart policy wonk in Baton Rouge to play a conservative bumpkin on Fox News.
Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser clearly enjoys his job’s main mission, promoting Louisiana to potential tourists around the world. Just back from overseeing a state float at the Tournament of Roses Parade, Nungesser announced he'd run for reelection rather than seek a promotion.
Still, you’ve got to wonder whatever happened to the idea that every Louisiana politician wakes up in the morning, looks in the mirror and sees a governor?
It should be said here that the man who currently holds the title, John Bel Edwards, appears to quite like what he does — particularly lately, when he’s been hobnobbing with the French president; celebrating the wisdom and success of his first big move, accepting federal money to expand Medicaid; positioning Louisiana for the inevitable shift to greener energy and actually finding enough money in the coffers to make some long-term investments.
Sure there are still major challenges, including meltdowns at the Department of Children and Family Services and the Office of Juvenile Justice, but it’s surely better to be governor now than it was when Edwards took office in 2016 and immediately faced a $2 billion budget shortfall.
Something like that — hopefully not exactly like that — could happen again should the economy turn south and lawmakers let the temporary taxes adopted in Edwards’ first years lapse in 2025. But is that really enough to deter so many candidacies?
Probably not. It could be that all these nonstarters have their own good reasons. And it’s not as if nobody’s running.
First and foremost is the ever-divisive Attorney General Jeff Landry. Without another major name right now, the early contest is organizing around him.
That’s true in terms of support — he’s got the right-wing culture crusaders on his side and has secured a marginally meaningful early endorsement from the Louisiana Republican Party. It’s also the case in terms of opposition, because the “Anybody but Landry” sentiment remains strong even in some corners of his own party.
Treasurer John Schroder announced his candidacy last week, as did state Sen. Sharon Hewitt. Both are from St. Tammany Parish, and both would theoretically seek support from the ABL crowd while also picking off some die-hard conservatives from Landry.
The flip side is that both have made gestures to the right that are sure to alienate the independents and Democrats who’d have to be part of any winning non-Landry coalition. Schroder has gone after corporate environment, social and governance policies like those practiced by the investment firm BlackRock, and Hewitt oversaw a congressional redistricting process that drew a Voting Rights Act lawsuit and authored legislation to vastly restrict access to abortion pills after Roe v. Wade was overturned.
All these candidates are Republicans (joining independent Hunter Lundy, who has also announced) but whether a major Democrat gets in will greatly affect the outcome. A moderate who could easily beat either Landry or a Democrat in a runoff would have to get there first, which is its own distinct challenge in Louisiana’s open primary system.
That’s a major reason so many people have been hoping someone with a high profile and enough across-the-board appeal would run. Even with announcements from Schroder and Hewitt last week, you’ve got to believe many are still hoping.
Which brings me to another major figure who’s still hanging out on the sideline, U.S. Rep. Garret Graves of Baton Rouge. Graves too appears content in his current job, as part of the new, narrow GOP majority and with major committee roles in his future, but he told the Louisiana Radio Network that he’s still thinking about running and will decide soon.
“My phone has been absolutely blowing up since Sen. Kennedy made his announcement. Blowing up is probably an understatement,” Graves said, a claim that may be self-serving but also rings true. “I think that sentiment out there in the public for another candidate in this race is absolutely extraordinary.”