The Joe Cunningham Show airs 3-4 p.m. every weekday on NewsTalk 96.5 KPEL. The daily show notes offer you a look into the topics of the day and the links to the top stories and Joe's own writings on the state of politics in Louisiana and around the country. Follow Joe on Twitter at @JoePCunningham and Like the Joe Cunningham Show on Facebook. You can also subscribe to the Joe Cunningham Show podcast on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, or Amazon.
A Week From Winning Re-Election…
…John Kennedy has decided to throw a wrench into everything. A few years ago, John Kennedy’s allies worked to clear the field for the Senator to announce a bid for governor. And then… he said no. That left a field with just Ralph Abraham and Eddie Rispone against John Bel Edwards. And we all know how that went down.
Well now, Kennedy is announcing that he’s seriously considering a run for governor, and has released a poll justifying his consideration.
I think I’ll take Kennedy up on his offer in one of his Senate ads. I must call a crackhead because they’re the only ones with the supplies necessary to keep up with what’s going on here.
The Louisiana GOP officially released its endorsement of Jeff Landry, and John Kennedy has announced that he may announce a run for governor. It’s as though Louisiana really is cursed when it comes to having a functioning GOP.
Speaking of State GOP Dysfunction
My morning column speaks a bit to this on the national scene. We can discuss Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy, and more all we want, but the fact of the matter is that, at the state level, the GOP is just as screwed up outside of Virginia, New York, and Florida.
It’s all a series of negatives that have absolutely hurt the Republican Party’s chances of taking the Senate and will make their possible majority in the House way more narrow than originally hoped for. And the national GOP brand will have to deal with this. The party’s leaders have to figure out the way forward and, frankly, some of them are going to have to just go.
But we can’t just stop there. There is a pressing need at the state level for the Republican Party to get its act together and start moving forward, rather than backward. The fact of the matter is that the GOP, from the very top and all the way down, has absolutely refused to move forward since 2020. That includes many of the state-level GOP operations.
Voters of Color Moved Rightward
One of the few bits of data that did turn out to be correct was the shift we saw from voters of color to the GOP in 2022. That helped Republicans in many areas, including New York and Florida. POLITICO has a piece breaking down some of the numbers.
Democrats won among Black, Hispanic and Asian and Pacific Islander voters in the 2022 midterms, while the majority of white voters and Native Americans went for Republicans, according to exit polls conducted by major networks and Edison Research.
But compared to the 2018 midterms, Hispanic and Asian support for the GOP jumped 10 and 17 points respectively, while Black voters shifted about 4 points to the right. When contrasted with 2020 — a presidential election year fueled by a push to remove former President Donald Trump from office — the movement in favor of Republicans is in the single digits.
Headlines of the Day
‘We need to have a real discussion’: GOP leaders brace for tense talks after disappointing election results (CNN)
2022 ELECTION Rep. Zeldin taking supporters’ calls about running for RNC chair, longtime adviser says (NBC News)
Who’s Really Itching to Start the 2024 Presidential Campaign Now? (National Review)
Georgia Senate runoff: RNC to send hundreds of GOP officials to support Herschel Walker in Peach State (Fox News)
FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried Sit in the Crosshairs of U.S. Prosecutors (Wall Street Journal)