Pssst. You may not have heard, but Louisiana’s in the midst of a lieutenant governor’s race. Largely overshadowed by Louisiana’s competitive race for governor, which has sucked up most of the TV campaign advertising and media attention, Democratic Baton Rouge Mayor Kip Holden is battling Republican Billy Nungesser, former Plaquemines Parish president, to be the state’s second-in-command.
As The Associated Press reports, both Holden and Nungesser have been running quieter campaigns than the gubernatorial candidates, trying to build off grassroots support and name recognition to win votes in the Saturday runoff election.
Besides being second in line to the governor, the lieutenant governor is Louisiana’s chief tourism ambassador, overseeing state parks, museums and tourism promotion efforts in the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism. Tourism is an $11 billion state industry.
With both contenders promising to be champions of the industry, the race has become more about personalities than policy points. Holden and Nungesser agreed to skip attack ads in the runoff, trying to strike differences by emphasizing backgrounds and government resumes.
“My style and philosophy, it is to go out aggressively and tell people what we have here,” Holden says. “When you look at Baton Rouge, all we’ve done is promote, promote, promote. That has brought in a lot of great activities.”
Nungesser highlights his anti-abortion, pro-gun stances, his background as a businessman and his leadership of Plaquemines Parish after the BP oil spill. He describes seeking that office after Hurricane Katrina because he didn’t see enough leadership.
“By nature, I am a good salesman. I’m a hard worker,” Nungesser says. “You will not be disappointed with my honesty, my effort, and my love and passion for this state.”
The lieutenant governor’s seat is open because Republican Jay Dardenne ran unsuccessfully for governor. Democrat John Bel Edwards and Republican David Vitter are in the high-spending, tight runoff competition to follow term-limited Gov. Bobby Jindal into office.
Nungesser has far outspent Holden in the race. The Republican’s campaign had pumped $2.6 million into its efforts by early November, according to the most recent campaign finance reports available.
But much of Nungesser’s spending came ahead of the Oct. 24 primary, when he was in an attack-heavy ad battle with Jefferson Parish President John Young, who came in third in the four-person primary field. Nungesser edged Young out of the runoff by less than 11,500 votes.
By comparison, Holden spent very little in the primary, easily making the runoff with his base of Democratic party support. His campaign has done far less TV advertising, with only $162,000 spent on the race through the start of November.
