Qualifying has wrapped up for the Louisiana fall elections,and the field is set for what should be a high intensity governor’s race.
It features the southeast’s only Democrat defending his seat against two Republicans contenders.
Political Analyst Bernie Pinsonat says within the next two weeks expect the election season to pick up steam.
“The public will become more involved because now that these candidates are all qualified, they will start receiving mailers, they will start seeing these candidates on television. They’ve already started seeing a lot of television ads.”
Governor John Bel Edwards and Baton Rouge construction mogul Eddie Rispone have already begun their statewide TV ad campaign. Congressman Ralph Abraham says he’ll begin airing his next week.
This time last year analysts predicted the 2019 fall election could shatter spending records. Pinsonat says it may come very close.
“We have two candidates who are going to spend at least 25 million. Abraham, he could end up spending three or four million. Then could we have another ten million spent by political PACs? Yeah, that’s easily possible.”
With no federal races and few other competitive governor’s races nationwide, Louisiana is set to become a major focus for both parties. Pinsonat says to expect a flood of out of state money and other assets to sweep in.
“This is an important race for Republicans nationally. When you talk about reapportionment, when you talk about having control of the state, the Governor is very powerful in Louisiana, having a Democrat in Louisiana is great for Democrats.”
The only other race that is likely to crack a million dollars of spending is Insurance Commissioner. Tim Temple is challenging incumbent Jim Donelon and has pledged to self-fund a million dollar campaign.
