Key themes and players from Louisiana’s historic election for governor can be found in and around the developing U.S. Senate race, writes Jeremy Alford in his latest column.
“The big question moving forward will be whether the results will be the same—that is, a Democrat launching a Cinderella bid for the nation’s upper chamber and, in a fairy-tale string of events, winning in a state that often appears more red than blue,” Alford writes.
This is what Gov. John Bel Edwards managed to do in the November runoff against U.S. Sen. David Vitter, who is relinquishing his seat after 17 years on the Hill. Edwards, more so than Vitter, has had a consistent presence on the campaign trail so far.
The governor is supporting Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell, a fellow Democrat from Elm Grove who wants to replace Vitter, Alford notes.
Edwards is helping Campbell raise money, and the governor’s image was used in a recent web video by the Campbell campaign. Top aides that Edwards relied on in 2015 also are working for Campbell, Alford writes.
And at a New Orleans fundraiser for Campbell about four weeks ago, Edwards is quoted as saying, “I hate to say it this way, but I see a lot of either who I am or what I aspire to be in Foster.”
“Recapturing the exact same kind of lightning in a bottle will be tough for Campbell, but his campaign is quick to point out that they are not trying to precisely duplicate the 2015 success Democrats enjoyed,” Alford writes. “Still, Campbell, in some respects, is starting to run against the same opponent Edwards had last year. It’s not a completely outside-the-box strategy, but it hinges on voters feeling totally displeased with Vitter’s service in the Senate.”
Since announcing his candidacy, Campbell has sought to slay Vitter on a few different issues, Alford says. When an unsourced news report claimed the Vitter was trying to line up a lobbying job for his post-Senate career, Campbell issued a news release describing Vitter’s call for the resignation of Veterans Affairs Secretary Bob McDonald as “insincere.”
“Simply put, some candidates run best when they have someone to run against. Vitter, while not the incumbent, may become a regular target for Campbell,” writes Alford, adding that
Edwards has become a target for Treasurer John Kennedy, who’s maintaining a lead in most of the publicly released U.S. Senate polls.
“Kennedy has given countless media interviews over the past few months opposing the governor’s tax proposals,” Alford writes. “Last week he also appeared on a Baton Rouge television station and actually asked lawmakers to end early the year’s second special session that Edwards called.”
Jeremy Alford publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter, or on Facebook. He can be reached at JJA@LaPolitics.com.
