La. will see many new faces in statewide offices this year
BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - In Louisiana, seven statewide seats are up for grabs, and five of them will be occupied by completely new leaders, with two incumbents not seeking re-election and two others running for governor.
There are quite a few seats up for election this year. But the positions of attorney general, insurance commissioner, treasurer, secretary of state and governor will have entirely new faces. WAFB Political Analyst Jim Engster thinks this election could be one for the books.
“As far as open seats, this is new territory,” said Engster. “Five of seven seats open, so we’re likely to have some younger faces and some younger voices and some would say that’s a good thing.”
But with so many new faces in these races, it makes it more difficult for you at home to know exactly what these candidates have to offer.
“Somebody running for treasurer is unlikely to be making news. So, quite often, the person who has the most coins wins and that’s why we watch fundraising. And right now, fundraising is critical because we are only 25 weeks from the election. October 14 is 176 shopping days away,” explained Engster.
It is the lack of name recognition that could cause candidates to rely on smearing their opponents to generate emotion and headlines, as opposed to sharing their solutions for the problems Louisiana faces. It is easy to say you are going to fix crime, improve our economy and stand up for civil rights, but it is another thing to lay out your plan.
“We’ve gone for the sound bites for a long time in American politics and in Louisiana. And quite often, we’ll have candidates in every race talking about fighting crime. But in reality, crime, abortion and things like that are not really in the realm of these statewide offices. But nonetheless, try to find something that resonates with the electorate, then meat and potatoes of the issues that may not be as sexy,” added Engster.
Click here to report a typo.
Copyright 2022 WAFB. All rights reserved.
