A primetime televised candidate debate dominated by the elephant in the room—an absent frontrunner so far ahead in polls, those on the stage were seemingly auditioning to be the fait accompli “other guy.”
Sound familiar?
Among them: While President Trump’s Election Day is nearly 14 months away down an arduous primary road, Mr. Landry’s is Oct. 14.
Another difference: The five gubernatorial hopefuls not named Landry invited to the debate included an independent and the leading Democrat, who is expected to give the ultimate GOP candidate, most likely named Landry, not just one competitive race, but two.
Under Louisiana’s “jungle primary” system, candidates of all party affiliations will be on the same Oct. 14 primary ballot. If no single candidate garners 50 percent of that tally, the top two advance to a Nov. 18 general election.
There are at least 16 declared candidates, including 10 Republicans, seeking to succeed term-limited Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards.
The Louisiana election is one of three unfolding 2023 gubernatorial contests set for votes this fall. All three are in the South, and two feature Republican state attorneys general running for governor to complete GOP trifecta control—both legislative chambers and the governor’s office—in their states.
In Mississippi, Republican Gov. Tate Reeves is heavily favored to win a second term to sustain that state’s GOP trifecta. In Kentucky, incumbent Democrat Gov. Andy Beshear faces a stiff challenge from Attorney General Daniel Cameron, the first Republican elected Bluegrass State AG since 1948.
Landry Making Debate Debut Sept.15
Mr. Landry, Louisiana’s two-term attorney general who served a two-year stint in Congress a decade ago, is a conservative endorsed by President Trump. He has consistently outpolled his fellow Republican gubernatorial contenders by 30 percentage points.In the most recent survey posted in late August, Mr. Landry garnered 36 percent of the tally, followed by Democrat Shawn Wilson, a former Louisiana Department of Transportation & Development secretary, with 26 percent.
Only seven other candidates garnered votes, and none secured more than 7 percent in the poll, commissioned by an array of media and advocacy groups. They include The Urban League of Louisiana, also among sponsors of the Sept. 7 WWL-TV debate in New Orleans that Mr. Landry boycotted because, he claims, the Urban League is biased against Republicans, especially conservative Republicans.
Mr. Landry has committed, however, to participate in a Sept. 15 Louisiana gubernatorial debate in Lafayette hosted by LaNexstar Television, the second of four such debates scheduled before the Oct. 14 “jungle primary,” where a 50-percent tally wins it all right then and there.
That left Mr. Wilson, the only significant Democrat candidate in the race, to face off in the first debate against Lake Charles attorney Hunter Lundy, running as an independent, and the three leading Republicans not named Landry—two-term Republican state Sen. Sharon Hewitt, State Treasurer John Schroder, and Louisiana Association of Business & Industry President Stephen Waguespack, who served as an aide to former Gov. Bobby Jindal.
During the hour-long debate, all five said that, as governor, they would support making teacher pay raises permanent, oppose raising the state’s gasoline tax—at 17 cents, the nation’s second lowest—and fight against any attempt to impose a COVID-19 vaccine mandate on K-12 school students.
The candidates gave varying responses, mostly within standard partisan lines, to questions about abortion, environmental regulations, the state’s property insurance crisis—a growing issue Louisiana shares with neighboring Gulf Coast states—redistricting challenges, minimum wage, the state’s sales tax, recently adopted anti-LGBT bills, and the state’s “gender-affirming care” ban.
According to polls cited by moderators, Louisianans cited crime among their top concerns. All five vowed to be aggressive in addressing this voter priority.
All stressed the need for more funding for law enforcement, court reform, and crime-prevention programs, with Mr. Lundy passionately calling for a more holistic approach.
“We have to start young and prevent crime,” he said, adding that better funding for the state’s education system is the key to crime prevention.
Mr. Schroder, touting his 10-year record in the state House as a tough-on-crime lawmaker, said voters already know he’s a stand-up leader who has backed law enforcement and resisted progressive efforts to ease criminal codes.
“I showed up, unlike the attorney general,” Mr. Schroder said, referring to the absent Mr. Landry.
“He’s been a no-show for all these issues. And I think he’s been a no-show on crime for the last eight years.”
That was one of the few shots taken at the frontrunner in absentia. Another came when Ms. Hewitt claimed Mr. Landry is first-and-foremost a tort attorney advocate, noting he’s sided with trial lawyers in more than 200 lawsuits against Louisiana’s largest employer and tax-revenues generator, making him “not a friend of the oil and gas industry.”
Wilson v. Landry-Less GOP
For the most part, the debate was a Democrat offering Democratic answers to questions, Republicans issuing varied GOP responses to queries, and an independent sounding mostly Republican to whatever he was asked.On abortion, all but Mr. Wilson said they supported the state’s six-week ban and the Legislature’s rejection of 2023 bills to provide exceptions for rape and incest.
“Our legislature has proven it’s too extreme for Louisiana,” Mr. Wilson said, calling for a statewide ballot initiative to allow citizens to vote on abortion laws.
On anti-LGBT legislation, all but Mr. Wilson backed the Legislature’s ban on youth “gender-affirming care” as needed to protect children and families.
Mr. Wilson said the agitation over LGBT and transgender issues are distractions orchestrated by a nationalized conservative media that make little sense to the rank-and-file, claiming conservative lawmakers wasted valuable session time ignoring important issues to impose laws “that infringe on people’s rights.”
“I talk to parents who are afraid for their children now because of these extreme policies and positions,” he said. “I think it is time to put those extreme policies to bed.”
Mr. Lundy joined Mr. Wilson in agreeing that the Legislature should move forward rather than continue to fight a court order to redo the state’s congressional maps to provide a second majority Black district. The three Republicans said they’d continue the challenge, but comply with whatever ruling emerges.
Mr. Lundy also joined Mr. Wilson in calling for renewal of a near half-penny portion of the state’s 4.45 percent state sales tax—0.45 percent—before it expires in 2025.
The tax revenues should be retained, and “we should be investing in Louisiana” with it, Mr. Lundy said. “Absolutely, yes,” it should renewed.
Mr. Waguespack suggested a formula in which the sales tax could be ended when certain economic benchmarks are achieved.
Mr. Schroder and Ms. Hewitt said they would allow the levy to expire in two years.
“I don’t think we are going to need the revenue,” Ms. Hewitt said. “We are going to be fine; we don’t face a fiscal cliff” in the state budget.
Mr. Lundy and Mr. Schroder agreed with Mr. Wilson that the state’s $7.25 minimum wage—unchanged since 2009—needs to be raised. Ms. Hewitt, noting she has opposed measures to raise the minimum wage in the past, said it was “maybe” time to do so. Mr. Waguespack was the only clearly confirmed no.
All but Mr. Schroder said that, soon after assuming office, they would call lawmakers into a special session to address the state’s property insurance crisis.
Mr. Schroder said he’d call a special session, but first arrange a “summit” with all stakeholders engaged in the unfolding urgency, from insurers to the construction industry, to regulators and lawyers and business groups.
It would be good to first get everyone in a room to suggest and vet solutions that can be presented to lawmakers and state agencies, he said.
“We’re going to have to fix it one way or the other.”
