Louisiana's Governor Election: Dates, Candidates, and What Hangs in the Balance
Photo from Brookings.edu
As qualifying for the Louisiana gubernatorial election ended on August 10th, there are officially 16 candidates vying for the governor’s seat—eight Republican, four Independent, three Democratic, and one with no declared party. All sixteen candidates will run against each other during the primary election on October 14th. Unless one candidate wins more than 50% of the vote, the top two candidates (regardless of party affiliation) will go on to compete for the governor’s seat during the general election of November 18th.
Of the eight Republican candidates, two seriously compete to represent the Republican party in the general election: Jeff Landry and Stephen Waguespack. Jeff Landry is Louisiana’s current attorney general and creator of the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation. His values detailed on his campaign website include protecting “parent’s rights” from the “woke mob,” combating undocumented immigration, defending the Second Amendment and total abortion bans, and cutting taxes. His notable endorsers include former President Donald Trump, the Republican Party of Louisiana, and four out of five Republicans representing Louisiana in Congress. The fifth, Representative Garret Graves, endorsed Waguespack instead. Stephen Waguespack served as a senior aide to former Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and has spent the last ten years as CEO of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry until he resigned to run for governor. His values detailed on his campaign website include lowering taxes, abortion bans with “very narrow exceptions,” making government services more digitally accessible, and increasing infrastructure in education and law enforcement. However, Waguespack also plans to “reduce boards and commissions across government and delegate more authority and freedoms to families” to decrease government involvement. Waguespack appears to be the only candidate that poses a potential threat to Landry—who has the most funding and endorsements of all candidates—as PACs supporting both candidates air attack ads against each other.
Only one Independent candidate, Hunter Lundy, has made a name for himself at this point in campaigns. Hunter Lundy is a Lake Charles-based personal injury attorney and co-founder of Lundy, Lundy, Soileau, & South L.L.P. He is a governing board member of the National Association of Christian Lawmakers, an “organization…participating in the drafting of model legislation to reestablish and protect conservative values in America.” Lundy has made few goals clear during his campaign so far except to raise wages in education and reform insurance.
Likewise, there is one Democratic candidate expected to advance to the general election: Shawn Wilson. Shawn Wilson was Secretary of Transportation and Development under current Governor John Bel Edwards (who is unable to run for reelection due to term limits) until he resigned in March to run for governor. His values detailed on his campaign website include increasing infrastructure funding, raising wages across multiple industries, and expanding access to healthcare, including “common sense reproductive healthcare access”—allowing exceptions to abortion bans for rape, incest, and medical complications. His notable endorsers include Governor Edwards, Louisiana Public Service Commissioner Devante Lewis, House Representative Troy Carter, and the Louisiana Democratic Party.
This election is particularly intense as Louisiana is considered a battleground state. Louisiana is currently the only state in the Deep South (a region encompassing Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and debatably Texas and Florida) with a Democratic governor, and the seat has alternated between Democratic and Republican since 1980. At a time when many states, particularly those with Republican administrations, are targeting marginalized communities and their rights, the veto power of a Democratic governor is instrumental in protecting those communities. (In Edwards’s last veto session in June, he struck down multiple bills from the majority-Republican state House targeting LGBTQ+ students, transgender healthcare, juvenile offenders, and vaccination requirements.) It is crucial that Louisianans exercise their rights this fall and have a say in the future of our state. The voting registration deadline for the primary is September 13th if registering in person or by mail or September 23rd if registering through the GeauxVote Online Registration System. The deadlines to register for the general election are October 18th and October 28th, respectively. Further information about this race and all upcoming elections is available on the Louisiana Secretary of State’s website.
