Congressman Garret Graves was the last candidate to run against former Governor Edwin Edwards, beating Edwards in the 2014 race for the 6th Congressional District seat.
The race came just a few years after Edwards got out of prison and Graves said Edwards’ legacy loomed large over the contest.
“It was one of the most intimidating things I’ve ever done in my life in that here you have a guy that was a myth, that was a legend when I was a kid and here we were going head to head,” Graves said.
Graves won that race 62% to 38% in the heavily Republican district. If you consider Edwards dropped out in 1987 before he would have likely officially lost to Buddy Roemer Graves argues that he is the only candidate to have actually beaten Edwards straight up in over 20 contests.
Graves said he and Edwards kept up a candid and humorous backchannel dialog during the 2014 race and even after stayed in contact and occasionally chatted over lunch.
“It was like he had never left the political whim if somebody was having a problem with the Post Office or the IRS or the Social Security Administration. On a very regular basis I would get these emails or texts from him,” Graves said.
Graves says Edwards was one of the most charming and gifted men to ever grace Louisiana politics, but he leaves behind a complicated legacy.
“If you try to apply a 2021 ethical standard to obviously the decisions that he made certainly can’t hold up to that scrutiny,” Graves said.
But Graves notes many of the controversial decisions Edwards made were, at the time, not viewed the same as they would be now.
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