It might inflame passions for those involved, but it’s likely going to make little difference that the Executive Committee of the Louisiana Republican State Central Committee, on behalf of the state party, endorsed GOP state Sen. Blake Miguez for the Sixth Congressional District over GOP state Sen. Rick Edmonds.

This weekend, the Committee, a subset of party officers of the much larger SCC, acted after the SCC nominated both Edmonds and Miguez for consideration of the endorsement. Ultimately, the Committee considered only Miguez and delivered the endorsement to him. Edmonds felt aggrieved by this, claiming that a small collection of party insiders who have been big boosters of Miguez steered debate completely away from considering him.

A party endorsement unlocks money from both the state party and the Republican National Committee, as well as in-kind services from the state party, plus Miguez can tout the endorsement. However, state resources contributed are expected to be minimal.

The same likely is true with national dollars, which theoretically could be substantial. But practically speaking, these probably will amount to zero. With House Republicans clinging to a narrow majority and midterm historical demographics running against the party in power, dozens of other races in which competitive Democrats will contend will have much higher priority for that assistance, so the national party won’t involve itself in a contest where the two leading candidates in an old-style blanket primary matchup are Republicans.

Nor would the endorsement do much to steer resources in the inevitable runoff. If it’s Miguez and a Democrat, it’s moot who received it. It’s moot again if Miguez doesn’t make it. And if it’s both Republicans, would the party really involve itself – especially if there’s a runoff in Georgia?

Gaining the party imprimatur provides the only real benefit for Miguez. While district demographics suggest that only a Republican can win it (having a third more registrants than Democrats), unless the GOP pair ends up pretty evenly matched in vote totals, likely one of two Democrats will slip past one of them. If she can campaign seriously, Democrat former Metro Councilor Chauna Banks could consolidate the black vote that comprises about 18 percent of the electorate plus some others, while the semi-official establishment wing of Democrats, mainly led by whites who are outnumbered two-to-one by blacks in the state party’s electorate, pins its hopes on former high-level bureaucrat Democrat Pat Forbes. If either one of this duo can pull away from the other, that candidate could sneak into the runoff.

Thus, the stakes are high, and every little bit could help to differentiate the candidates in the general election. Yet if both Republicans advance to the runoff, some perverse dynamics could come into play; Republicans almost certainly will stick with their vote for one or the other regardless, but Democrats might push the button for Edmonds because he’s not the “official” GOP candidate.

Still, this will be an extremely minor consideration in a contest where, as of the last reporting, Miguez has a substantial money advantage over Edmonds (and that may increase with Miguez also having scored an endorsement from the Club for Growth). And Miguez has a couple of potential strikes against him, one of which carries great irony.

Miguez continues to fight off the “carpetbagger” charge. He’s never lived in the district (which is not required constitutionally) except during college years and when the Legislature is in session, although these hardly can be considered domiciles, and he bought a residence within the district’s boundaries only a few months ago.

Before mid-cycle reapportionment was completed in June, Miguez and Edmonds had qualified for CD 5, in which Miguez also didn’t live. At that time, he won the endorsement of Republican Pres. Donald Trump. However, after the changes and subsequent qualifying for CD 6, Trump has remained silent. Whether that means the endorsement continues or it went away with the shifts in districts, only Trump knows, but without him formally refreshing it, that leaves an opening for Edmonds to claim Miguez has lost Trump’s formal backing, which as a factor among voters might carry more weight than any state party seal of approval.

In the final analysis, the state GOP nod toward Miguez will mean little. But because of the potential closeness of the race, it possibly could tip the balance between him and Edmonds, which is why Edmonds has fulminated about this development.

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