The latest name to surface in the developing race for speaker of the state House belongs to Rep. Stephen Dwight of Lake Charles, a second-termer-to-be who sent a letter to supporters last week announcing his bid the big gavel.
Dwight, a Republican like all of the other contenders, announced the he created LA United PAC for the January internal election that will ask representatives to choose their chamber leaders.
“My goal as speaker is to have a united body that wants to work together, strives to compromise, and truly desires to make a difference for the people of Louisiana,” Dwight wrote in his letter.
Among those preparing to enter their fifth year of elected work at the Capitol, there’s also a big push from Rep. Jack McFarland of Jonesboro, who, like Dwight, would be the first second-term speaker elected since former House Speaker E.L. “Bubba” Henry in the early 1970s.
Looking toward the class of third-termers, there’s quiet chatter building around a consensus candidacy from Rep. Ray Garofalo of Chalmette. He said last week that he will soon be forming his own leadership PAC.
As stated in recent reporting, Reps. Stuart Bishop of Lafayette, Sherman Mack of Albany and Alan Seabaugh of Shreveport are mounting bids as well, and for now are all serious contenders.
If fundraising and money are to be determining factors, then Bishop remains the contender to watch with $100,000 in his PAC and $260,000 in his campaign account — far more than any other announced candidate for House speaker.
A crowded House race
In case you were wondering which legislative district fielded the most candidates this cycle, it was House District 98, which is anchored by Uptown New Orleans and includes a portion of storied St. Charles Avenue, near Tulane and Loyola Universities.
A field of seven Democrats (no room for the GOP here) are vying for control of essentially three neighborhoods in the race to replace Rep. Neil Abramson. The outgoing Ways and Means chairman was a Democrat, but he sometimes governed to the right of his constituency.
Perhaps that’s why the mostly liberal candidates are campaigning in a manner that suggests they are somehow flipping the seat back.
Most notably, the field includes attorney Evan Bergeron, who could potentially become the chambers first open gay man. Kea Sherman, who helped fuel the recent EMERGE wave, and attorney Ravi Sangisetty, a known politico, are in the field as well.
Also running are Aimee Adatto Freeman, Marion “Penny” Freistadt, Max Hayden Chiz and Carlos L. Zervigon.
Invasion of the giant mailers
We may need bigger mailboxes.
While larger format direct mail pieces aren’t an operational trend specific to this election cycle, they are yet again unmissable as voters continue to open their postal boxes this year.
That’s because more candidates seem to be trending toward larger mail pieces. (And by large, think 17 inches by 11 inches when opened.)
This cycle, there are a few offerings on the legislative level, from Baton Rouge-based candidates Scott McKnight in House District 68 and Carlos Zervigon in House District 98.
The Data & Marketing Association, a 100-year-old trade organization for marketers, completed an exhaustive report on response rates at the end of 2017 and found that oversized pieces such as those used by McKnight and Zervigon this cycle increase response rates by 10.4 percent.
Direct mail remains an attractive vehicle for many campaigns, legislative or not, and budgets for such efforts appear to be as strong as ever.
Last year political mail revenue was $563 million for the United State Postal Service, which was 31 percent above expectations. USPS officials estimated every registered voter in the country received about 24 pieces last cycle, or 2.7 billion pieces nationally.
Political History: Gubernatorial members of Congress
Louisiana has had 20 governors who were also elected to serve on Capitol Hill, starting with our very first chief executive, William C.C. Claiborne.
Before he became territorial governor in 1803, Claiborne ran for and won a seat to the U.S. House in Tennessee in 1797, making him Louisiana’s only governor to represent another state via federal office.
According to his gravestone, Claiborne was 23-years-old when he was elected to the House, just two years shy of the constitutionally-required age.
There’s at least one letter from Claiborne to George Washington, who was in his final months as president, where Claiborne vaguely addresses his age without giving up a number.
Despite not being old enough, Claiborne was still sworn into office, replacing a man named Andrew Jackson, who would go on to conquer the Battle of New Orleans and later become president.
There were 12 Louisiana governors overall who were elected to the U.S. House, the most recent being former Gov. Bobby Jindal, who held the post before moving into the Mansion.
There were also eight Louisiana governors who likewise were elected to the U.S. Senate, the most recent being Huey P. Long, who held off on taking his seat until he could secure a successor for governor. Long was sworn in as the 1932 congressional session started but was absent more than half of that time.
Three Louisiana governors actually served in both the House and Senate, including Henry Johnson, William P. Kellogg and Newton C. Blanchard.
They Said It
“One thing I love about my job: There’s never a recession in Louisiana politics.” —GAMBIT’s Clancy DuBos, on WWL-TV.
“The ghost of Huey Long still walks the state capitol in Baton Rouge in many places, but we finally took it back… And in just a short period of time, you can do that too.” —Congressman Steve Scalise of Jefferson Parish, to the GOP faithful at the Illinois State Fair, in The Herald & Review.
