Louisiana’s newly inaugurated Gov. Jeff Landry is endorsing former President Donald Trump for president in 2024, Breitbart News learned exclusively.
“The great people of Louisiana overwhelmingly voted for President Donald Trump twice, and I stand with them,” Landry said in a statement his team provided to Breitbart News exclusively. “That is why I am honored to endorse one of the greatest Presidents in our country’s history, Donald J. Trump. President Trump helped us make history last year, as we ended 8 years of Democrat governance in Baton Rouge.”
Landry’s endorsement of Trump comes after his shocking win in Louisiana in 2023, where he defeated all challengers in the jungle primary and did not even need a runoff to win the governor’s mansion. Landry, the GOP candidate last year and then-Attorney General, was always the frontrunner in Louisiana’s governor race but in Louisiana state-level elections are a bit different than most other states. First, a jungle primary in October sees all candidates from every party—Republicans, Democrats, independents, any third parties—face off against each other. Then the top two vote-getters usually advance to a runoff later, usually sometime in November—unless someone in the jungle primary gets more than 50 percent there, which is rare. Landry ended up getting more than 50 percent and not even needing a runoff, winning the governor’s mansion outright on jungle primary day and shocking political observers nationally and throughout Louisiana.
“With President Trump leading the Republican ticket in November, his America First platform will deliver sweeping victories across the country, from The White House to the State House,” Landry continued in his endorsement statement of Trump. “President Donald J. Trump will secure our border, protect our communities, and finally stop the rampant inflation so many hardworking Louisianans have endured. As your new Governor, I look forward to working with President Trump to Make Louisiana and America Great Again!”
Landry’s election win in 2023 represented the only major flip from one party to another in any governor elections last year. For the eight years prior to Landry’s victory, Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards—now the former governor—defied the odds to lead the ruby-red Louisiana. But in 2023, Landry was able to flip Louisiana from Democrat control to GOP hands. The other two governor elections last year saw incumbents reelected, with Republican Tate Reeves winning in Mississippi and Democrat Andy Beshear winning in Kentucky. The only other big change in the 2023 off-year elections saw Democrats take a narrow majority in the Virginia House of Delegates from the GOP, which only had a narrow majority itself beforehand.
Many top Republicans have been consolidating behind Trump in recent weeks as the Iowa caucuses loom on Monday. The latest before Landry was Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), the Senate GOP conference chair and highest-ranking member of Senate GOP leadership to back Trump. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) also just endorsed Trump, as have now the entire House GOP leadership team with Speaker Mike Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, and Majority Whip Tom Emmer all endorsing Trump in recent weeks. House GOP conference chairwoman Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) did so back in the early days of Trump’s 2024 campaign.