Sen John Kennedy (R) November 8, 2022. Photo by Brooke Thorington.
2023 is shaping up to be a fascinating year for state politics with a governor’s race taking place in the fall. We still don’t know who is exactly running, but political analyst Bernie Pinsonat says we are expecting a decision from junior U-S Senator John Kennedy soon.
“A lot of unanswered questions and none of those questions will be answered until we get a definitive yes or no from John Kennedy which is what we’ve been waiting on for a couple of months now,” said Pinsonat.
Kennedy won re-election in November to a second-term in the U-S Senate. But the 71-year-old announced in early November he’s considering a run for Governor. Pinsonat says if Kennedy decides not run, we could have a large field of candidates, but they’ll need to raise a lot of money to compete with Attorney General Jeff Landry, who already has the endorsement of the state Republican Party.
“If you get to five million dollars and that’s the big number, so who can run, who can raise the money, who has the statewide audience and who has the ability to put together a statewide organization,” said Pinsonat.
This is also Governor John Bel Edwards’ final year in office as it’s a lame duck year for Edwards and the Louisiana Legislature. But Pinsonat says trying to get more private property insurance companies into the state will be a priority.
“Can they fix problems, like the insurance market that’s a possibility, but as far as new projects, I wouldn’t expect to see that,” said Pinsonat.
The 2023 Regular Legislative Session convenes on April 10th. Qualifying for governor and other statewide offices is August 8th to the 10th.
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