An open seat in the U.S. Senate, combined with Louisiana’s unique “jungle primary” system, means a record number of candidates on the November 8th ballot. 21 have qualified so far, with one more day to sign up.
As always, there are those with catchy nicknames.
“My name is Donald “Crawdaddy” Crawford and I’m running for U.S. Senate as a Republican.”
He qualified Thursday, along with five others, including perennial candidate Bob Lang of Natchitoches.
“I just didn’t get it done like I wanted to in 2010. I’m going to be able to get on TV this time,” Lang said of his last U.S. senate run. The unaffiliated candidate also ran for governor last year.
Greg Taylor, Jr., an unemployed janitor, came from New Orleans to the Secretary of State’s office in Baton Rouge to qualify.
“I caught 3 buses to get here and walked about 2 miles,” Taylor explained.
Unaffiliated with any major party, he wants to legalize and tax drugs, rather than jailing people for using them.
Charles Marsala is also from New Orleans -- a Republican who wants to focus on environmental issues, if elected.
“The ‘Dead Zone’ to me is a big issue, and no one has addressed that.,” Marsala stated.”And I think a senator from Louisiana should use the resources we have here to draw attention to what’s going on.”
Josh pellerin, a Lafayette Democrat, is also looking toward the Gulf.
“Louisiana needs a champion. We need someone who can come in and really help to develop the oil and gas,” Pellerin said.
While most of Thursday’s qualifiers were fuzzy about the funds they’d need to contend in the race, Pellerin, who has raised and spent six figures thus far, has a number in mind.
“My opponents, how much is it going to cost them to try to beat me? That could cost 10, 15 million dollars.”
Asked about his campaign financing, the Rev. Peter Williams of Lettsworth, a Democrat, simply said, “Funding will come in due time.”