For the two Republican candidates in the Louisiana attorney general’s race, it’s all about the Democrats.
The Associated Press reports incumbent Buddy Caldwell and challenger Jeff Landry have been touting Democratic endorsements from lawyers, lawmakers and others as both GOP contenders try to cobble together the votes needed in Saturday’s runoff election.
Neither man has changed their overall campaign rhetoric since the field of candidates was whittled from five to two in the Oct. 24 primary.
Landry is still accusing Caldwell of corruption and cronyism in how he’s handled the attorney general’s office over his two terms, a “Buddy system” where campaign contributors get large contracts from Caldwell. Caldwell, a former district attorney from Tallulah, defends his use of outside counsel as hiring the most knowledgeable attorneys for complex litigation. He says Landry, a one-term U.S. House member from New Iberia, is a failed politician with a law degree but little legal background, too inexperienced to run the state’s top law office.
What has changed since the primary is both Caldwell and Landry are vying for support from Democrats whose votes are critical to a runoff victory. Caldwell, who has been outspent in the election, received 35% of the primary vote. Landry got 33%.
Landry received the backing of the New Orleans Ministerial Alliance and the third-place finisher in the attorney general’s race, Geri Broussard Baloney, a Democrat who finished with 18% of the vote.
Caldwell touts the endorsements of the Louisiana Police Jury Association’s Black Caucus and the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus, made up primarily of Democratic officials.
It’s an unusual twist in the race after Caldwell spent his last term supporting challenges of President Barack Obama’s health care law and other Obama administration regulations. Landry, meanwhile, made a name for himself in Congress when he opposed Obama’s oil drilling moratorium and refused to attend a White House meeting with the president.
As reported by Daily Report this morning, Caldwell’s campaign has begun airing TV ads after having gone off the air for about a week.
