Louisiana Democrats have just a few chances left to keep Republicans from grabbing total command of state government: runoff contests for secretary of state, treasurer and attorney general.
They may face the toughest odds in the attorney general’s race, where money has flowed to the campaign of a Republican with years of experience in state government — while the Democrat in the race says her party has been mostly absent as the Nov. 18 runoff nears.
Voters’ choice in the contest will have sweeping implications for the future of state politics.
If Liz Murrill, the state’s current Republican solicitor general, wins, it would give current Republican Attorney General and Gov.-elect Jeff Landry an ally in the state’s chief legal officer. Murrill pledges to fight for the state’s oil and gas industry and to crack down on crime.
But if Lindsey Cheek, a Democrat and trial attorney, seizes the seat, the office would focus on environmental regulation and consumer protections and have a more adversarial relationship with the governor.
The election will make history no matter its outcome, as either Murrill or Cheek will be the first woman to serve in the role.
Murrill came close to winning the primary outright by securing just shy of 50% of the vote. Candidates in Louisiana’s “jungle primary” need half the vote plus one to win a race in the primary.
'Lawyer for the people'
Though both candidates are women and experienced lawyers, their approaches could hardly be more different.
Raised in poverty in the town of Friendswood, Texas, Cheek has emerged as perhaps the most progressive statewide candidate this election cycle. The first-time candidate describes herself as a political outsider and downplays the importance of party affiliation. She says the office should be nonpolitical.
“MAGA vs. ‘woke’ — I don’t even know what that means,” Cheek said in a recent video ad. “I wouldn’t put myself in either of those camps, and I don’t think most people do.”
Cheek kept her plans to run under wraps until the second-to-last day to qualify for the ballot. On the campaign trail, she has focused her message on the struggles of the working class, women, Black people and veterans. She calls herself “the people’s lawyer” and speaks with pride about having scored big wins for consumers against pharmaceutical company Johnson and Johnson, Ford Motor Co., and others.
She decries chemical contamination in the area known as “Cancer Alley,” and pledged at a Baton Rouge Press Club event Monday to sue the firms whose plants are responsible for that pollution. She sees an opening to bring hundreds of millions of dollars from opioid litigation into the state’s coffers.
“I’m not a lawyer for corporations, or insurance companies or Jeff Landry,” Cheek told the press club. “I will be a lawyer for the people of Louisiana, to bring them any reparations that they are owed.”
The Oct. 14 primary was a success for Cheek, who edged past Republican state Rep. John Stefanski, of Crowley, to join Murrill on November’s ballot. But it was a meltdown for Democrats in most other ways. After former Transportation Secretary Shawn Wilson failed to force Landry into a gubernatorial runoff, Louisiana Democratic Party chair Katie Bernhardt said the party would turn its focus to getting the remaining statewide candidates elected.
Since then, however, Cheek said the party has done almost nothing to corral donations or otherwise put resources behind her campaign. Cheek raised about $59,000 from late September to late October, and spent about $126,000. “It’s been disappointing,” Cheek said. “We’re out here pushing on our own.”
'Faith, family, and preserving our cultural traditions'
The state of the Democratic Party aside, Murrill presents as formidable an opponent as any candidate in the remaining statewide races.
A staunch conservative and Landry’s top deputy through his seven-year tenure as state attorney general, Murrill credits her background as a newspaper reporter for the attention to detail she devotes to crafting arguments behind some of Landry’s highest-profile legal fights. With years of experience at the office, she speaks with authority about its inner workings.
Her conservative bona fides make her the choice of many Louisianans. Murrill vows to cut crime through strengthening the office's criminal division and to “restore the rule of law." She raised at least $950,000 in recent campaign donations, and in the lead-up to the primary, the Republican Attorney General's Association spent at least $1.8 million on her behalf.
“I and Jeff have offered a significant commitment to the people to address crime, and I think that has resonated very, very strongly with the people of this state,” she said in an interview outside the state archives building after early voting on Thursday.
Murrill is also a member of the Federalist Society, a legal group that aligns itself with conservative priorities, particularly the drive to overturn the landmark abortion ruling Roe v. Wade. Asked how she would uphold or enforce Louisiana’s strict abortion ban as attorney general, Murrill said she would be a bulwark against outside attempts to alter any state laws.
“The Supreme Court has put that policy back in the hands of state legislatures to decide what is the right thing to do in your state...I will defend the laws as it was adopted by the Legislature,” she said.
About half of Louisiana voters believe the state’s abortion ban should be loosened to provide more access, according to an August poll commissioned by this newspaper and nonpartisan partners.
Some political operatives have cast Murrill’s campaign as a surrogate operation of Landry’s gubernatorial push. She decries that description as sexist, saying her resume should stand on its own.
Asked what she thinks is driving Louisiana Republicans’ growing strength, Murrill said the answer has less to do with the parties themselves and more with conservative values increasingly aligning with Louisianans’ day-to-day lives.
“I don’t look at it so much as Republicans and Democrats as much as I look at it as conservative and liberal policies,” Murrill said. “I believe that the people in our state are responding to the message that we (as conservatives) care about the same things they care about: Faith, family and preserving our cultural traditions in Louisiana.”