U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy says he is considering a run for Louisiana governor according to The Advocate.
Although Cassidy has not made an official announcement, he told Politico that he will decide to run or not by the end of this year.
Currently, Governor John Bel Edwards is serving his second consecutive term which makes him term-limited and cannot run in 2023.
Cassidy says it is not his idea to run for governor and he has not made an official announcement to run for governor, but he says the idea was pitched to him by people in the state.
“They’ve seen what I’ve done on the bipartisan infrastructure bill, see what I did on Covid relief in December 2020,” Cassidy said in an interview with Politico on Tuesday. “They obviously see I’m trying to do good things for the state. And they like it.”
Cassidy was re-election in November 2020 with strong support from then-President Donald Trump.
In what could be seen as a move to gather local support, Cassidy released a video on his official website where he addresses the violent crime problem in New Orleans and endorsed a push to repeal a 2020 New Orleans City ordinance banning the NOPD from using certain crime-fighting technologies such as facial recognition cameras.
“I go to New Orleans—I’m constantly hearing from folks that they’re afraid to walk the streets in a city that they love,” said Dr. Cassidy. “Privacy must be respected. The technology is not perfect. But always taking into account these concerns and limitations, law enforcement needs more tools to find and prosecute criminals.”
