Governor John Bel Edwards smiles as he thanks his wife Donna for serving as First Lady during his final State of the State address. April 10, 2023.
On his monthly radio call-in show, Governor John Bel Edwards told the story of when Donald Trump asked him to change parties and become a Republican. Edwards says the discussion occurred in New Jersey towards the end of Edwards’ first term.
“At the end of the long meeting on criminal justice reform, he asked to meet with me and indicated he thought I should become a Republican and should I do that he would be happy to support me in reelection,” said Edwards.
Edwards says Trump told him he would not have to change any of his positions on political issues, but the governor says he politely declined the offer to join the GOP.
“I said well I thank you for letting me know how you feel, but that’s not something I’m interested in doing,” said Edwards.
Edwards’ decision not to switch parties led to Trump campaigning against Edwards as the former president backed the Republican in the 2019 runoff, Eddie Rispone. Because of Trump’s influence, the governor believes his re-election win was more impressive than when he defeated Republican David Vitter in 2015.
“We had a sitting president who was very popular in Louisiana that made three separate visits to campaign against me and we were still able to win,” said Edwards.
Edwards said a couple of months after the election, he ran into President Trump at the 2020 college football national championship game in New Orleans and Trump said “You Beat me.”
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