NEW ORLEANS — The field for the 2023 Louisiana governor's race could become much clearer this week.
Just one day after U.S. Senator John Kennedy announced that he's strongly considering a run and would have an announcement soon, U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy said he is likewise considering a run and would make a statement on that later this week.
“I made a decision. I’ll make that announcement later this week,” said Cassidy, a 65-year-old Republican from Baton Rouge who was elected to the upper chamber in 2015, as reported by NOLA.com.
Already, the state's attorney general, Jeff Landry, has announced that he will run for the office and he's received the endorsement of the state Republican Party even before the rest of the field is official.
The news about Cassidy comes just one day after Kennedy said he is strongly considering a run. WWL-TV Political Analyst Clancy DuBos said Kennedy, who was re-elected easily last Tuesday, would quickly move to the top of the field.
“None of the other candidates will admit that right now, but it would be very difficult for any of the Republicans to defeat him,” said DuBos. “ He would be an early favorite and it would unite a lot of Republicans behind him.”
DuBos says if Kennedy decides to enter the race, it would put Republicans in a difficult position with an early endorsement given to Landry.
“That endorsement literally means nothing if Kennedy gets into the race,” DuBos says. “It means less than nothing, and frankly, it doesn’t mean a whole lot anyway to the average voter.”
It is unlikely that both of the state's sitting senators would run and perhaps they are consulting one another with one of them deciding to run and the other remaining in their current seat.
Kennedy was one of several GOP Senators to call into question the 2020 presidential election outcome, while Cassidy was one of the few GOP Senators to say the election had been decided and was fairly run.
