Governor’s Race Could Break Spending Records

Qualifying has wrapped up and the field is set for what should be a highly competitive governor’s race as the southeast’s only Democrat defends his seat against two Republicans contenders.

The race has only recently started to pick up intensity, and Political Analyst Bernie Pinsonat says within the next two weeks expect the election season yard signs and billboards to be in full bloom.

“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 Edwards and 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 not break any records, but it’s likely to 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? Yea that’s easily possible.”

The only other race that is likely to crack a million dollars of spending is Insurance Commissioner, where Tim Temple, who is challenging incumbent Jim Donelon, has pledged to self-fund a million-dollar campaign.

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.”