Endorsement of Landry causes flap in state GOP

Some Louisiana Republicans are sounding off after the party’s executive committee voted over the weekend to endorse Attorney General Jeff Landry’s bid for governor.

The endorsement came at the urging of Republican megadonor Eddie Rispone, who lost his bid to unseat Gov. John Bel Edwards. Rispone joined with former

Congressman Ralph Abraham, who also ran for governor in 2019, to endorse Landry and encourage his fellow Republicans to follow suit in an email last week.

“Considering those that have indicated they will run, I have decided to support Jeff Landry,” Rispone wrote in the email last week to GOP members.

The vote to endorse Landry sparked immediate backlash from both Republican State Central Committee members and prominent state Republicans.

“I got wind of tonight’s clandestine meeting right as it was apparently set to begin and the odor was foul,” RSCC member Michael DiResto wrote to The Advocate in an email. “For a party that’s been harping for two years about election integrity and honoring the will of all legitimate voters, tonight’s action by the state GOP executive committee stinks like yesterday’s diapers.”

State Sen. Sharon Hewitt, R-Slidell, a potential 2023 gubernatorial candidate, responded to the endorsement on Twitter Sunday.

“The citizens of Louisiana do not need back room deals and political insiders telling them who should be our next Governor,” she wrote. “They are fully capable of deciding this themselves.”