On Monday, Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser ended months of speculation by announcing that he would NOT run for governor but instead seek reelection to his current office.
On Tuesday morning, he explained why to WWL's Tommy Tucker.
"It was a tough decision," Nungesser said. "I love Louisiana, I love the people, and I love my job."
That love for Louisiana, it's people, and his job led Nungesser to run for a third term as the state's chief tourism officer. Nungesser says he still has a passion for helping businesses in the tourism sector. He says that his focus now is helping businesses rebound from the COVID pandemic and return to the prosperity they enjoyed before 2020.
"The next two to three years is going to be crucial to many of these attractions and mom-and-pop shops and restaurants making it, and I feel a real obligation to working real hard to get those numbers back to where we were prior to COVID as quickly as possible," Nungesser said.
Although he's not running in the governor's race, Nungesser didn't hold back about his feelings on the race so far, including the Republican Party's early endorsement of Attorney General Jeff Landry. Nungesser said he would not have accepted the GOP's endorsement if they offered it to him in the same way offered it to Landry.
"That was a big mistake, and I've called on the chairman to resign," Nungesser said about the November endorsement. "They didn't take a full vote, and me being the highest ranking Republican don't get a phone call? It was a backroom deal. It hurt the party."
Nungesser said the state's next governor must focus on the state's needs, and not culture wars.
"We don't need to go on national news and talk about the problems," Nungesser said. "That's self-promoting. If you go on TV and talk bad about Louisiana, you care about your political future and not this state."
While he didn't name names, Nungesser's statement may be a reference to Landry and state treasurer John Schroder, who also is running for governor. Landry appeared on a Fox News program Monday night to discuss a free speech lawsuit against Facebook. Schroder appeared on the network last month to discuss his decision to pull state funds out of a firm because of the firm's environmental, social, and governance investment strategies.
Nungesser said the next governor needs to promote Louisiana positively on a national stage. He also said the next governor must put the state and its people ahead of any personal ambitions.
"I just hope somebody can rise to the top that has the best of Louisiana--not their political career, not soundbites--but really cares about making Louisiana better," Nungesser said. "I look forward to working with who that person is."
Nungesser didn't say if he would endorse a candidate in the governor's race, noting that he has to be concerned about his own race.
[shortcode-inline-related expand="1" link="/wwl/news/local/nungesser-ive-got-unfinished-business" headline="Nungesser: "I've got unfinished business"" image="/media-library/image.jpg?id=64202080"]
