Louisiana should have an accessible, balanced, fair-minded governor who can work on behalf of all of its people. We need someone who can work for and with everybody.
That person is Shawn Wilson.
In general, it shouldn’t matter that Wilson is from New Orleans, that he is a Democrat or that he is Black.
It shouldn’t, but it does.
This is Louisiana.
We’re a dark red state. We’re more red than Florida and Texas and darn close to the deepest reds of Alabama and Mississippi. Geography matters. Party labels matter. Race matters.
Shawn D. Wilson
It’s quite rare to elect a Democrat to statewide office in our state or any of those other states. Rare, but not impossible. We’ve done it recently, in fact. Gov. John Bel Edwards is close to ending two terms in office. We can do it again.
There are challenges, especially this time.
Fewer people than usual turned out to vote early, according to preliminary numbers released by the Secretary of State's office. In particular, Black voters comprised only about 24% of the early votes cast — far below their more than 31% share of the registered voters in Louisiana.
On the other hand, White voters and Republicans cast early ballots in significantly higher proportions than their percentages of the Louisiana electorate. In that number, are there enough moderate White Republicans willing to vote for a moderate Black Democrat like Wilson?
Wherever each of us may land on the left-to-right spectrum of Louisiana politics, too many of us apparently still think our vote doesn’t matter.
Voting does make a difference, though. Louisiana expanded Medicaid coverage for hundreds of thousands of working families because we had a Democrat as governor — and now every major gubernatorial candidate promises not to undo that decision.
We have more to do on criminal justice reform, but already Louisiana's prison population has decreased. We’ve also avoided some of the culture wars that governors in other states have embraced. No getting rid of Black history here.
We can do even better, however, and I fear what our state might become if it is led by a man who advocated for a “pilot program” that would make confidential juvenile court records public in only three Louisiana parishes, each one predominantly Black. I sincerely believe that Jeff Landry believes that would be a good thing. I sincerely believe he's wrong.
Still, each candidate for governor has qualities I like, including Landry. Like most voters, I think abortion, business and the economy, the climate, crime, education, health care, jobs and infrastructure are among our most important issues.
I like that some of the candidates are willing to say that we should have a minimum wage higher than $7.25 an hour. I like that some candidates are willing to talk about civil rights and social justice.
I'm disappointed that some candidates won't commit to paying teachers more. I especially don’t like that one candidate cannot admit that Joe Biden was rightfully elected president.
I'm delighted when I hear Democratic and Republican candidates say they’re willing to work together. I particularly like that Wilson, as Transportation secretary, has shown everyone how it's done. He did it under two Democratic governors and one Republican governor, and he worked with local elected officials — from both parties — in all 64 parishes.
I also like that Wilson is the only candidate willing let Louisiana voters have a say about abortion via a ballot initiative.
Nearly everyone expects Landry to lead the field and continue to be the leading candidate for governor when the Oct. 14 primary results are in. He has consistently led all credible polls, and his closest GOP competitors have been far behind.
Wilson, as the only major Democrat, has run second to Landry in all major polls for some time, but some believe Landry will win outright in the primary. He certainly appears as if he's trying to do that.
But that’s no reason to give up and not vote. In fact, whether you're for or against Landry, it's all the more reason to turn out and vote.
It took the impeachment of a corrupt White Republican governor in late 1872 for Louisiana to have Black Republican Pickney Benton Stewart Pinchback become interim governor for less than two months.
We don’t need that level of controversy and disgrace to show that Louisianans of all stripes can look beyond party registration and race to elect a competent Black man as governor.
That, too, is a reason to vote.
