A third Republican has formally announced that she's running for governor this year.
Sharon Hewitt, who represents part of the Northshore in the Louisiana State Senate, launched her campaign Friday morning by posting a four-minute announcement video on her Facebook page.
"It’s time for a conservative governor who will get things done for Louisiana," Hewitt wrote in the post that accompanied the video. "That’s why I’m running to lead this great state I love, and I’d be honored to have you on our team."
Hewitt is in her third and final term as a state senator. She joins fellow Republicans Jeff Landry and John Schroder and no party candidate Hunter Lundy in the race to succeed John Bel Edwards when his term expires next January. Her announcement comes just days after lieutenant governor Billy Nungesser announced that he would not run.
According to University of Louisiana political science professor Pearson Cross, this will force the other candidates in the race to step up their efforts.
"I think it puts the pressure on them," Dr. Cross told WWL. "Even though she's a Republican, I believe she's going to be considered to be to their left and, hence, more in the moderate middle, which may appeal to more voters."
Dr. Cross noted that Hewitt will have to work even harder than her GOP comrades because she has less name recognition statewide than they do.
"Sharon Hewitt has to make up a lot of ground," Dr. Cross said. "She's been very influential in the Senate and is the head of some committees and has a great background as a mechanical engineer. "She's not known, generally speaking, to people at large, so she's going to have to spend some money to get her name out there if she wants to compete against these statewide elected officials."
Dr. Cross adds that Hewitt's candidacy could make campaigning more difficult for other Republicans who have yet to enter the race.
"It clearly would clog up the middle," Dr. Cross said. "With John Schroder and Jeff Landry in the race, you have two fairly strong candidates on the quite conservative side. With Sharon Hewitt, you are getting a more moderate candidate. That might be the lane that other candidates like Garrett Graves, for example, would take to make the runoff for the gubernatorial race."
