Before the fundraising ban of the regular session took hold on March 12, Gov. John Bel Edwards managed to raise nearly $1 million during the first 10 weeks of this calendar year, according to a spokesperson for his re-election campaign. February was actually the best month on record for the campaign in terms of online donations. The money-counters argue that repeated attacks by political enemies had the effect of energizing Democratic donors, who balanced the criticisms against strong polling numbers for the governor. So how much is Edwards going to eventually raise? In the latest episode of The LaPolitics Report podcast, Andrew Bautsch, executive director of the Louisiana Republican Party, says, “If you look at it, John Bel is on point to have, I’m thinking, maybe $10 million of his own funds by election day. And then you’ll have the DNC and other interest groups coming in to drop another $3 to $4 million minimum.” Adds Bautsch: “That’s why we’re gearing up.” State GOP Chairman Louis Gurvich, who is also featured in the episode, added that the previous spending record set during the 2015 gubernatorial race—at least $50 million—won’t survive the next two years. “Absolutely, it’s going to be shattered,” says Gurvich. “No doubt about it.”
—Attorney General Jeff Landry’s office is now involved in five different redistricting cases, which is one more case than LaPolitics originally reported on Feb. 27. Landry’s team has filed another brief in the U.S. Supreme Court, via Solicitor General Liz Murrill, echoing Texas’ request that the Supremes reverse a lower court’s orders that invalidated reapportionment in the Lone Star State on multiple grounds.
They said it: “We can’t even pass gas.” —Rep. Sam Jones, D-Franklin, about the state House of Representatives
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.
