Monday marked 90 days until the October 22nd primary election, and therefore meant the first filing deadline for Statewide candidates. Here's a quick rundown of what everyone reported, by race:Lieutenant Governor:
- @JayDardenne raises $458k, has $524k on hand.
- @BillyNungesser raised $287k, has $1.1m on hand.
Our quick take: Dardenne burned it up over the past 4 months, culling the largest haul of the field with $458,000. Dardenne continues his popularity with the moderate business-first Republican crowd, especially in Baton Rouge. Even with this large take, Dardenne still can't eclipse Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser's $1.1m on hand. Of course, Nungesser loaned his campaign a health amount, but he's also no fundraising slouch. As a challenger, he'll need a healthy warchest to take Dardenne on. Some might say Nungesser is the Jindal candidate, considering the known unease between the Dardenne and Jindal camps. Nungesser's parish presidency continues to be under cloud of Federal investigation, but otherwise, he should be an aggressive challenger to Dardenne in the fall.
Attorney General:
- Buddy Caldwell raises $51k, with $480k on hand.
- Joel Chaisson (unannounced) raises $20k, has $139k on hand
Our Quick Take: Buddy's conversion to the Republican party hasn't exactly set his fundraising operation on fire. He continues to limp along with mediocre numbers, although having $480k on hand isn't bad. Chaisson hasn't even stated he'll be in this race, but if he wants, he could easily match and surpass Caldwell's anemic fundraising pace in several weeks. Trial lawyers will be salivating to elect one of their own, especially one so perfectly pedigree'd as Chaisson.
Secretary of State:
- Schedler raises $79k, $171k on hand.
- Hines raises $62k, $205k on hand.
- Fayard raised $20k, with $19k on hand.
- Tucker, Angelle unfiled
Our Quick Take: The big surprise here is Schedler getting with the picture and starting to actually fundraise. Previously, he was relying on a $150k loan to himself as his sole campaign contribution. Raising $79k for this race isn't that bad, but it also isn't so great either. With only $171k on hand, it's going to be hard to imagine how he'll keep up when Caroline Fayard, Jim Tucker and (possibly) Scott Angelle get cranked up. Speaking of those three, Fayard makes headlines by not raising or doing much of anything positive in the past few months. She was spotted at the LaDemos J-J dinner this past weekend, but her filing still says "Statewide" as opposed to "Secretary of State." Has she still not decided what she is running for? Of course, she announced earlier that she was aboslutely getting into the Secretary of State's race, but has she rethought her position now that the competition looks a whole lot stiffer if Tucker and Angelle get in? She'll be able to raise the money she needs, from her own family most likely, later this year, so her fundraising totals don't really mean much. As for Tucker and Angelle, neither have filed because neither seem to have decided that they will run. Tucker is very heavily leaning towards doing so, and Angelle has been said to be very interested as well. But so far, nothing to report.
Just to round out the statewides (all of whom have no announced competition):
Agriculture Commisioner Mike Strain has $431k on hand, $41k raised.
Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon has $619k on hand, with $133k raised.
And finally, Treasurer John Kennedy has a cool $1.9m on hand, raising $224k. This will suit him nicely in 4 years when he runs for Governor.
by Lamar Parmentel, Chief Curator of The Daily Kingfish
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