Here’s a press release which just dropped…

Today, Congressman Clay Higgins announced his endorsement of Republican Jeff Landry to be the next Governor of Louisiana.

In the endorsement video, Congressman Higgins explains his friendship with and respect for Attorney General Landry. Congressman Clay Higgins was easily re-elected this year receiving over sixty-four percent of the vote.

“I know Jeff Landry, and he’s a warrior that will fight for Louisiana’s people and always put our interests first,” said Congressman Higgins.

“He’s focused. He’s passionate. He’s a constitutionalist. He’s my friend. I’m honored to support him for Governor,” added Higgins.

Last month, Landry earned the endorsement of the Republican Party of Louisiana (LAGOP) after a majority of the 230 elected party leaders agreed to formally endorse Landry to be the Republican candidate for Governor of Louisiana.

Congressman Higgins applauded the state party’s willingness to learn from past mistakes.

“I’m very proud of the state party, the LAGOP, has united behind Jeff Landry for Governor,” explained Higgins. “Which I believe is wise and strategic. We’ve witnessed what has happened in the past. It’s encouraging that the state party is sharp enough to get behind Jeff Landry for Governor. I certainly am.”

Here’s the video Higgins put out in support of the endorsement…

What’s the importance of this? Well, Landry is consolidating his base of support in the southwestern part of the state by getting the area’s congressman on board. Anybody who’s spent time around Landry knows that Higgins is a friend of his, so the endorsement is no surprise. But Higgins has a pretty deep well of support within that congressional district – he had the biggest field of opponents of any of the congressional incumbents in last month’s midterm elections and he still walked away with 64 percent of the vote.

So Higgins coming in behind Landry would lock down a big chunk of votes in a very Republican – and particularly populist/MAGA Republican – area of the state.

Increasingly this is Landry putting together what looks like the winning formula in the 2023 gubernatorial race. It’s going to be a Republican, and a conservative Republican at that, who wins. All the elections of consequence in Louisiana clearly show that the state is turning more ideological, and there’s a significant right-leaning majority.

And it’s Landry who’s the personification of that among the announced and likely hopefuls.

Now – could this change if John Kennedy were to get in? Yes.

But the conversations we’re having have been interesting. We’re seeing an awful lot of resistance to the idea of Kennedy coming down from Washington, DC and running for governor rather than remaining in the Senate to fulfill his six-year term that hasn’t even started yet. That was a dynamic which negatively affected David Vitter’s 2015 gubernatorial bid and it’s present with Kennedy as well.

And it could mean that Kennedy might not actually displace Landry if he did decide to run.

Which creates the usual danger – multiple Republicans grinding each other to dust while a Democrat skates into office.

This isn’t shaping up as an election cycle where that could happen in the same way it did in 2015 and 2019, but it’s still very much a problem.

Hence Higgins’ praise for the LAGOP in endorsing Landry early and voicing support for a united effort at victory.