If Kennedy and Landry go head-to-head in governor’s race, it’s gonna be more entertaining than anything WWE offers
If Kennedy and Landry go head-to-head in governor’s race, it’s gonna be more entertaining than anything WWE offers
November 14, 2022 by tomaswell
Louisiana’s Republican Party just got thrown a nasty curve ball.
US Sen. John N. Kennedy, fresh from pulling a 62 percent majority in his successful reelection campaign despite the presence of 12 other candidates in the race now says a week after that convincing win that he is considering a run for governor in next year’s election.
Normally, that wouldn’t be a problem for the state GOP; they’d just fall in line and endorse the lead horse and ride him right into the governor’s office.
Except that on the same day that Kenney announced that he is “seriously considering” the race, the state Republican Party officially announced its endorsement for…Attorney General Jeff Landry.
It had already been learned that Landry was getting the formal endorsement, much to the consternation of two other potential Republican candidates – State Treasurer John Schroeder and Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser, both of whom are also considering a run. Sounds like a rerun of 2015 when Republican candidates ganged up on each other, opening the door for Democrat John Bel Edwards to walk in virtually uncontested for the runoff with eventual Republican winner US Sen. David Vitter.
The announcement by Kennedy almost certainly gave Landry heartburn. He’s the only announced candidate and has already anointed Assistant Attorney General Liz Murrill to be his successor. If Kennedy does announce and send Landry scooting back to run for reelection as AG, it will upset a lot of plans.
And the Republic Party? Wow, now that’s a real problem. If they stick with Landry and Kennedy wins (which he most likely will) of if it switches allegiances and Landry somehow upsets Kennedy, there is going to be some reshuffling of personnel in the party and potentially a serious split in the party that will rival that of any Baptist church (or in more current terms, the Methodist Conference).
Kennedy must be experiencing a certain amount of overconfidence after coasting to reelection as senator a week ago. But at the same time, he must know that should he run for governor, the in-state politics of a governor’s race is certain to be down and nasty unlike either one of his runs for the Senate – and Kennedy is the kind who doesn’t like to get his hands dirty.
One thing’s for sure: if he does run and if Landry does stay in the race, Louisiana is going to see old-time mud-slinging politicking the likes of which this state has not seen since the days of Earl Long, Jimmie Davis and Willie Rainach. It will be ugly but it will be entertaining. And regardless of who eventually comes out on top, Louisiana once again will hog national headlines for its regressive politics and we will once again be the laughingstock of the nation.
Think about it: months of TV ads of the Cousin Eddie, Foghorn Leghorn, aw shucks rhetoric of Kennedy and the whiney, scratchy, fingernails-on-the-chalkboard screeching of Landry.
Thank goodness for mute buttons on the remotes.