This fall, several well-known Louisiana RINO (Republican-in-name-only) Republicans in the State Legislature are up for re-election. One of the most notorious RINOs in the State Legislature for years has been Joe Stagni.

Rep. Stagni has been one of the most problematic RINO Republicans in the statehouse for the past few years. Here is a list of some of his worst votes and decisions as an elected official:

-Voted NO  for ending child mutilation (transsexuals) surgeries in Louisiana (HB 638, 2023)

-Voted NO for Constitutional carry (SB 118, 2021)

-Voted NO for banning Transsexuals competing in Women’s sports (SB 156, 2021)

-Voted NO for allowing students to sue schools for vaccine requirements (HB 531, 2022)

-Voted NO for teachers about not referring to any person by certain pronouns if contrary to the employee’s religious or moral convictions  (HB 81, 2023).

-Voted YES for the disastrous 2023 budgetary bill that busted the fiscally responsible “Spending Cap”

-Sided with RINOs and Democrats to allow RINO Clay Schexnayder to become House Speaker

In fact, Stagni’s failure to protect women’s sports (2021) led the Home Defense Foundation (HDF) to start a recall effort against him. This recall effort caused Stagni to change his vote the next year when the Legislature re-introduced a similar bill in 2022.

RINO Joe has one of the worst voting records of any Republicans in the Louisiana Legislature—even worse than some Democrats. This result should come to no surprise considering Stagni was once a Democrat before running for office.

Besides his poor voting record, Stagni was notably absent for the recent veto override session. Several bills failed to override Governor Edwards’s veto by just ONE vote in the House. So, his absence directly contributed to the failure of multiple bills during this session. I personally emailed Stagni’s office to ask why he missed the veto override session, but his office never reached back out to me.

Stagni has no record to run on as he continues making mistake after mistake on lay-up issues. Louisiana conservatives must hold Stagni accountable for his poor voting record and decision-making as legislator.

Stagni is the quintessential RINO Republican who climbed his way up from establishment local politics into the state house. Stagni initially became a state representative through a special election in 2017 with under a 10% turnout. Stagni won his seat after receiving  roughly 1,700 votes in this special election—much less than a typical school board election in Jefferson Parish. Then in 2019, Stagni ran unopposed for re-election.

Let that sink in. Louisiana’s biggest RINO was elected with only 1,700 votes in a low turnout election six years ago. Stagni can hardly claim to represent the views of his constituents based on his voting record and on election results.

Stagni does have some ethics concerns outside of his voting record. Back in 2009, Stagni was a member of the Kenner city council. At the time, he sent an inappropriate picture to a female city employee. According to local news, here was Stagni’s response to the scandal when news broke out about the situation in 2011:

“My actions and bad judgment had nothing to do with my duties and responsibilities as a public official. They were private acts, but I take full responsibility for my irresponsible behavior.”

When viewing this scandal and his poor voting record, this man has no business remaining in the State House.

Fortunately, Stagni should have some competition in the October jungle primary election. One known opponent of Stagni is young conservative upstart and Turning Point USA grassroots activist Amanda Eberts. Eberts has gained the support of grassroots conservative groups such as LACAG, so we’ll see what comes of Eberts’ challenge to Stagni. Replacing Stagni with Eberts holds the promise of a huge upgrade in the Legislature on both ethical and ideological grounds.

The citizens of House District 92 and the citizens of Louisiana at-large deserve better Legislators than RINO Joe. We have an opportunity to completely remake the Louisiana Legislature this fall. We cannot afford to keep electing RINOs who sell out their voters to special interests, leftist activists, and establishment politicos.

We have a clear solution to fix our state’s continued decline: filling out the halls of the state capitol with solid, America First conservatives. We must kick RINOs to the curb this Fall before the revival of the Louisiana can begin!

RINO Joe must go. Let’s make it happen.

Nathan Koenig is a frequent contributor to RVIVR.com, a national conservative political site affiliated with The Hayride. Follow his writing on Twitter @ConservativeTin and on Instagram @tincanconservative.