“The way you campaign is absolutely a mirror reflection of the way you would govern,” said gubernatorial nominee Shawn Wilson this week in an interview with WWL’s Newell Normand.
Wilson, a Democrat, is a Lafayette resident who has 25 years of experience in state government. This includes serving as Louisiana’s Secretary of Transportation and Development, from 2016 until this March 2023.
So far, Republican Jeff Landry has been ahead in the polls among a group of candidates vying to replace current Gov. John Bel Edwards, who has reached his term limit, in November. However, Landry – a National Guard veteran, law school graduate, and former Congressman with experience in law enforcement – is currently Louisiana's Attorney General, who is facing an ethics charge and he skipped the first gubernatorial debate.
“And my grandmother would say, when people show you who they are, believe them when they tell you who they are,” said Wilson. “Take them at their word because that is who they are and that is what they will do.”
However, Wilson told Normand that he hopes that he’ll eventually have a chance to debate Landry.
“I’ll give you a case in point,” he said. “We just talked about crime. Jeff Landry’s approach to crime is locking people up longer. If that was the case, we'd be the safest place on earth because of the 25,000 people we've had in jail for how many years now.”
Other candidates include John Schroder, Stephen Waguespack and Sharon Hewitt (all Republicans) and Hunter Lundy, a far-right independent.
“Those tried and true things that he's suggesting have not done anything to make us safer, have not done anything to reduce crime,” said Wilson of Landry. You can’t address that when you're ducking and dodging debates and not showing up for folks.”
Listen here to catch his full conversation with Normand.