President Trump and President Obama have both weighed in on Louisiana’s Senate race.    President Trump endorsed Senator Bill Cassidy, who was elected to the Senate in 2014, and has 14 opponents on the November 3 ballot.  President Obama endorsed one of Cassidy’s opponents: Shreveport Mayor Adrian Perkins.

Two Presidents with VERY different philosophies and records in our state.  In 2016, President Trump overwhelmingly won Louisiana with 58% of the voters pulling the lever for him.  Trump has visited Louisiana often during his Presidency and seems to enjoy a close friendship with our congressional delegation. President Obama lost Louisiana in both 2004 and 2008 by 17% and 18% respectively. But, as we are seeing in Senate races nationally, this is anything other than a typical year. In bright red South Carolina, Senator Graham is in the political fight of his life and races in other traditionally red states like Montana are closer than expected. If there was ever a time we needed to make sure we send Senator Cassidy back to the U.S. Senate, it’s this year.

Louisiana Legacy, a pro Cassidy PAC, has been methodically plowing the field and laying the groundwork for the Senator’s re-elect for the better part of the year now. We first heard them earlier this summer with some pro-Cassidy radio just as the COVID outbreak began. Good timing to promote Doctor Bill Cassidy. Their first TV spot did a nice job stepping on Adrian Perkins’ qualifying day, the day he planned to receive his largest statewide earned media, and profiled legislators from around the state endorsing Senator Cassidy. Meanwhile, the Cassidy campaign has been up with some great TV spots detailing Senator Cassidy’s support for our nation’s veterans.

While Perkins entered the race with some flare as the Mayor of Shreveport, his candidacy has been fairly flat. This new spot airing by Louisiana Legacy is spot on and shows the compassionate Bill after Katrina as well as his bread and butter issue of healthcare, namely lowering prescription drug costs and surprise medical billing. We heard a similar radio ad playing on the Moon Griffon show the other day as well. As a physician serving in the Senate, Cassidy is in a unique position to provide real life experience and expertise on the complex healthcare issues in the US Senate and to folks at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  It’s not bad for our Senior Senator to be the “go-to” guy for Trump especially as we rebuild from the Hurricanes, continue to fight COVID-19 and as our economy lags behind the southern average.

President Obama’s endorsement of a longshot candidate, Mayor Perkins is a boost for him.  The endorsement also shows Perkins has the attention of the Democratic National Party.  Unfortunately for Perkins, the national party leans more liberal than the state in which he resides.  So the endorsement while flattering Perkins leftist ego, also brings a ceiling for the Mayor running statewide.