Democratic incumbent Gov. John Bel Edwards missed winning re-election in the first primary, failing to top 50%, and now faces first-time candidate, Republican and businessman Eddie Rispone, who has the momentum.
This runoff will be no fluke like Edward’s first election. Rather, it’s the quintessential race pitting a liberal Democratic incumbent against a conservative Republican challenger who already has the endorsement of his primary foe, Rep. Ralph Abraham.
Edwards has a clear record and his actions—and Louisiana’s statistics—when contrasted against the governor’s rhetoric makes McCollister ask, “Are we in the toilet and is Gov. Edwards trying to convince us it’s a hot tub?”
Election day is Nov. 16 (early voting Nov. 2-9) and I will vote for Eddie Rispone, writes Business Report Publisher Rolfe McCollister in his new column.
There are big differences between Rispone and Edwards regarding their achievements, policies and beliefs about the role of government—and what direction Louisiana is moving now and should go in the future.
I know personally that Rispone has spent his own time and money to support Louisiana’s educational reform effort benefiting children and families and giving them choices to escape failing schools, McCollister writes. At the last TV debate with Rispone, Edwards had the audacity to claim credit for the decade-long effort to raise Louisiana’s public high school graduation rate, now reaching 81%. Edwards, once governor, inherited this reform movement—and its success—advanced under Jindal, White and Rispone that got us out of the ditch dug by Edwards and his union pals over decades.
The next four years will require thinking different, strong leadership and working with business and the Legislature to create jobs—not gridlock. (The primary results saw an increase in Republicans in the Legislature, who could soon hold a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers.) Rispone will get that done. And this election won’t just impact the next four years, but the next 10 as the redistricting process for all elected officials happens during the upcoming gubernatorial term.
McCollister suggests voters are wiser this time and now know the difference between the real Edwards and the one who ran a 2015 stealth campaign, concluding, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice …”
Read McCollister’s full column for more about why Rispone has won his endorsement. Send comments to editor@businessreport.com.
