Speaking to Breitbart Deputy Political Editor Amanda House last week, Louisiana Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) confirmed that he is “still looking at running” for governor.
“I haven’t made a decision. I’ve been asked to look at the race,” Kennedy said. “I’ll make a decision in the next couple of months. I haven’t been coy about it.” But Kennedy welcomes all comers to the race, even should he decide to throw his hat back in. “If others want to run,” he continued, “Go for it. I believe in competition.”
The senator said that he enjoys his job in Washington, DC. “I think we’ve accomplished a lot, and we’ve got a lot more to accomplish,” he said. And he had harsh words for Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards: “My state’s in trouble,” Kennedy said. “Governor Edwards is a liberal Democrat. He tries to pretend that he’s not, but it would be more intellectually honest for him to just claim it.”
Kennedy said that Edwards “believes we are just one tax increase away from prosperity,” and that “he can tax and spend and regulate us into prosperity. He can’t.” According to Kennedy, the differences between he and Edwards are all too clear:
Number one, I think you can spend the money you earn better than government can. John Bel thinks the government can spend the money you earn better than you can. Number two, I believe in more freedom. I think government’s gotten too big. John Bel believes in more free stuff, and he’s happy to have you pay for it through higher taxes.
Kennedy said that Edwards is “out of step with Louisiana” and is “hurting our state.” He lamented that Louisiana is “losing bright young people left and right, to Denver, and Dallas, and Atlanta.” If the trend continues, Kennedy believes that “the average age is going to be deceased.”
“People vote with their feet,” Kennedy concluded. “There’s a reason that Illinois, and California, and New York, and New Jersey are shrinking — and Louisiana, by the way — and Texas, and Florida, and North Carolina, and Tennessee are growing. It’s because those ‘ladder states’ understand that individual freedom is more — much more — important than the government nanny state.”
Senator Kennedy still has yet to confirm his return to the race, however. This week, the senator’s office refused to comment on whether he is still considering the run. Regardless, his opinion of the first-term Democrat governor is more than clear: “He just can’t hack it.”