U.S. Senator John Kennedy just won re-election very handily. More people voted in his race than any other in the state. And, naturally, he’s one of the most popular Senators in Washington D.C. because of his classic soundbites.
But it seems that with all the turmoil after the election and with all the turmoil in the state about the party endorsing Jeff Landry early, Kennedy might be eyeing a run for Governor in 2023.
Kennedy released a statement this morning that has a lot of folks in Louisiana jittery.
I’ve spent my life and career serving the people of Louisiana. Becky and I raised our family here and are so proud to call it home. But we can’t deny that our great state is facing serious challenges. To meet those challenges, Louisiana families deserve a governor who can lead our state and help solve our toughest problems.
"Over the last year, Louisianians have asked me time and time again to come home to serve as governor during these difficult times. Becky and I love the people of Louisiana. We’ve always listened to them, so I am giving serious consideration to entering the governor’s race. I’ll be announcing my decision soon.”
He also showed the results of a poll that had him with a pretty big lead in a potential primary against the other (mostly hypothetical) candidates in the race for Governor. Only Jeff Landry and Hunter Lundy (the latter being a third-party candidate) have announced, and Landry came in a distant second place to Kennedy.
I have two theories here as to what might be happening, and I’ll give them in order of what I think is most likely.
John Kennedy is telling the people who are whining about the state GOP’s endorsement “Don’t make me come down there.” He understands that the party is in need of unifying and, while there may have been mistakes made in making such an early endorsement and how it was handled, ultimately it’s probably the right move for the party. With a bunch of people eyeing a run and now screaming about the state party, there is once again a threat to the Republican Party’s ability to take back the Governor’s mansion.
John Kennedy realized over the weekend that the Senate Majority isn’t coming and, therefore, he’s looking at making a move back home, where he can be a leader and have power. That would explain why he released a poll along with the announcement - the voters already love him, so why not go ahead and make that move back to Louisiana?
Neither situation is ideal. As Scott McKay said at The Hayride today, the Louisiana Republican Party seems almost cursed to never be unified in a gubernatorial bid ever again.
Given the RSCC endorsement and the rather pedestrian poll numbers, what we see is a whole lot of Republican and conservative voters scratching their heads over the idea that Kennedy would run for governor so soon after being re-elected to the Senate.
In most states – hell, in every state other than Louisiana – senators do not run for governor. It’s practically unheard of. And when Vitter did it, the voters didn’t reward him for it at all. That was a major negative in his campaign, in fact.
And Vitter ran for governor five years into his second term. He at least had the argument that he was only going to be in the Senate for two terms and then coming home, so running for governor was part of a plan to serve the state as best he could.
Kennedy just won re-election last week. He boasted of the fact that he raised $40 million in his re-election campaign – on the promise he would represent Louisiana in the U.S. Senate for another six years, and six days later he’s now talking about leaving the Senate a year into that six-year term to be governor?
It’s a pretty stellar waste of an opportunity if Kennedy does in fact run. I’m still not convinced he will, considering he’s got a solid role with solid committee assignments in the Senate, but the Louisiana Republican Party is, of course, a clown show. But if Kennedy does run, we’re in for a year I’d rather just sleep through than have to cover and talk about. And I just covered and talked about these midterms. The gubernatorial would be way more depressing than that.