Republican Treasurer John Kennedy’s lead in Louisiana’s U.S. Senate race has slipped after months as the front-runner in the competition, with GOP U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany closing the gap, according to an independent poll released today.
As The Associated Press reports, Kennedy leads the pack of contenders in the latest survey released by Southern Media and Opinion Research with 17%, but Boustany is close behind at 15%, within the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.
Among the top-polling Democrats, lawyer Caroline Fayard had the support of 11% of the voters surveyed. Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell was next at 9%.
Republican U.S. Rep. John Fleming had 8% in the poll.
Kennedy’s campaign suggested it wasn’t concerned about Boustany’s rise, which came after the congressman aired several TV ads across south Louisiana over the last month.
“Charles Boustany spent more than $1 million on television, and he is still in low single digits outside his congressional district. We haven’t spent a dime yet. We feel great about this race,” Kennedy spokesman Lionel Rainey says in a statement.
But Boustany has also managed to tighten the race with Kennedy even amid allegations published in a new book that claimed Boustany was involved with prostitutes who were later killed.
Boustany has called the allegations “despicable lies” and blamed Kennedy for spreading information about the book. The Associated Press hasn’t been able to independently confirm the allegations.
Boustany’s campaign says the poll numbers show the congressman is “surging.”
“Career politician John Kennedy’s support is imploding. The people of Louisiana know John Kennedy, but they don’t want to put him in the United States Senate as soon as they find out they have another choice,” Boustany spokesman Jack Pandol says in a campaign email.
A sizable 26% of those surveyed remained undecided about who they’ll support among the 24 candidates vying for the seat on the Nov. 8 ballot. The race is expected to be decided in a December runoff.
The statewide poll of 500 likely voters, conducted from Sept. 15 through 17 and paid for by a group of bipartisan investors, raises the possibility that the runoff could be an all-Republican affair, if Fayard and Campbell split the state’s Democratic vote.
