Last week we got a little bit of buzz going with our post about Shawn Wilson, who as it turns out is not the only Democrat in the 2023 governor’s race. Perpetual candidate Omar Dantzler, who ran in 2019 and got a tiny smattering of votes, also jumped into the race yesterday as qualifying opened. Dantzler isn’t a major candidate; Wilson, who has only raised a little more than a half-million dollars, is barely one.

What we don’t see a lot of from Wilson is anything compelling about why he’s running or what he’d do as governor if he’s allowed to essentially fail up from his old job running the state Department of Transportation and Development. Wilson’s record of running one of the most dysfunctional and wasteful agencies in state government is essentially a millstone around his campaign’s neck; it’s one thing to be unqualified because you’ve never done anything in government, but it’s worse when you’ve been in government all your life and you’ve proven you’re no good at it.

Wilson’s campaign has a lot of work to do to present him as something other than a faceless bureaucrat with nothing to offer. They haven’t done it.

Here’s the last thing of substance that shows up on his YouTube page…

So he’s offering more of the same bad governance that has led to around 200,000 more people leaving the state than moving in.

Shawn Wilson seems like a nice guy. We’re not hating on him out of any kind of personal animosity, or anything. But this is an objectively uninspiring, flat-out bad candidate.

And the Republican Governors’ Association, which only has three races to deal with this year – and one of them, next door in Mississippi, isn’t going to be competitive at all; the Democrats can’t knock Tate Reeves out and they know it – has decided they’re going to just harass the hell out of Wilson.

Here’s a press release…

Shawn Wilson has repeatedly said he will be running on his record in his campaign for Louisiana Governor, saying he will run the state like he ran the Louisiana Department of Transportation.

With that in mind, as Shawn Wilson qualified today with the Secretary of State’s office to run for Governor, it’s worth taking a look at the record Wilson seems to be so proud of.

Shawn Wilson’s record:

• Louisiana ranks 49th in the country for infrastructure, dropping 10 spots on the list under Shawn Wilson’s leadership.
• President Biden’s Administration gave Louisiana infrastructure a D+ grade under Shawn Wilson’s leadership
• Shawn Wilson has said he would not advocate for removing taxes as Governor
• Shawn Wilson has been telling Louisianans he will “always be a bureaucrat”

Republican Governors Association is out today with a digital spot to welcome Shawn Wilson to the race, and introduce his disastrous record to voters.

“Under Shawn Wilson’s leadership Louisiana dropped 10 spots in infrastructure. Louisiana is now the second worst state in the nation, and that’s unacceptable. What’s worse, Shawn Wilson considers that record a success. If that’s how Shawn Wilson ran the Louisiana DOTD, imagine how he would run the state,” said Courtney Alexander, RGA National Press Secretary.

Here’s the digital spot. It’s pretty brutal.

Welcome to the Louisiana Governor’s race, @wilsonforla pic.twitter.com/HAZquSQmj8

— The RGA (@GOPGovs) August 8, 2023

That “D-minus to D-plus” comment of his will end up being a problem for him, as will the “I’ll always be a bureaucrat.” Those things are just gold if you’re running against somebody.

Anyway, I was on Moon Griffon’s show Friday and we had some fun talking about Wilson and how bad a candidate he is. Here’s how that went…

Of the “major” candidates in the race, Wilson, state treasurer John Schroder and Lake Charles lawyer Hunter Lundy have qualified, while Jeff Landry, Stephen Waguespack, Richard Nelson and Sharon Hewitt have not. We expect that will all change by the end of the day.