Public service commissioner isn’t the sexiest job in terms of public profile, but there are only five such seats in the state, so when a vacancy occurs, Louisiana’s political world takes notice.
The race to succeed Republican Craig Greene, who chose not to stand for reelection amid skepticism (if not outright opposition) within his own party, has been fairly quiet so far. But that’s about to change.
Candidates are ramping up their fundraising and expect to begin advertising during the next week or so. This past Monday, candidates also participated in a forum hosted by the Baton Rouge Press Club.
Your contenders are Sen. Jean-Paul Coussan, who might raise and spend enough money to bury his competition; Nick Laborde, a political newbie who won’t have much money but might skate through the primary round nonetheless; and Julie Quinn, a former state senator who’s been out of elected politics for a touch.
The district includes East Feliciana, Lafayette, Lafourche, Pointe Coupee, Terrebonne and West Feliciana parishes, along with portions of Ascension, Assumption, East Baton Rouge, Iberville, Livingston, St. Martin and West Baton Rouge.
Laborde, the lone Democrat, doesn’t have a paid campaign consultant. He has pledged not to take contributions from utilities, as the relatively paltry tally in his campaign finance report (next reports are due Oct. 7) will reflect.
However, he does have an element of name recognition. His great-uncle, Raymond Laborde, was mayor of Marksville, served 20 years in the Legislature and was commissioner of administration for Gov. Edwin Edwards.
His father, John Ed Laborde, also served as mayor of Marksville, though he’s better known as the inventor of crawfish bread, the famous Jazz Fest staple.
“Everyone in south Louisiana knows a Laborde, or is related to a Laborde, and that is not nothin’,” Nick Laborde says.
PSC District 2 is largely white and Republican. But being on the high-turnout presidential ballot may give Laborde a boost.
He also points to the hotly contested race for mayor-president in East Baton Rouge Parish (which features two high-profile Democrats in incumbent Sharon Weston Broome and former Rep. Ted James) and the race in the new majority-Black congressional District 6 (which intersects with PSC District 2) as factors that could drive Democratic turnout.
“I genuinely believe I’m well-positioned for the runoff,” he says.
From there, Laborde would be a decided underdog against either Republican. Still, being on the same ballot as the expected mayoral runoff in EBR might offer an extra bump in an otherwise low-turnout December election.
But if you believe the Democrat will make the runoff (as the two Republicans split the GOP vote) but simply can’t win one-on-one against a Republican, then the primary is basically the whole ballgame.
Coussan was elected twice to Lafayette’s House District 45 and walked into his Senate seat unopposed. He had more than $200,000 left over from his Senate account and was up to nearly $500,000 in his latest report.
His campaign expects to raise close to $1 million, far more than the other candidates. The district includes the media markets of Baton Rouge, Lafayette and even New Orleans for some residents of the Lafourche/Terrebonne portion, so if Coussan decides to empty his war chest, he will be extremely difficult to beat.
Coussan also has strong relationships with officials throughout the district, a conservative voting record that lines up well with the district’s voters, and is generally well liked and respected, his supporters say.
On his campaign website, Coussan describes himself as a “conservative watchdog” who “understands the importance of the role that affordable and reliable energy plays in bringing jobs to our state.”
“If I’m elected, that’s the type of public service commissioner they’ll get,” he says.
Coussan boasts endorsements from Senate President Cameron Henry, the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association’s PAC, the Louisiana Manufacturers Political Action Committee, the Home Builders PAC, the majority of Republican State Central Committee members from the district, and the Republican Parish Executive Committees in Terrebonne and Pointe Coupee parishes, according to his team.
But Quinn has the support of former state GOP chairs Roger Villere and Louis Gurvich, Republican megadonor Boysie Bollinger, and the RPECs from Ascension, East Baton Rouge, Iberville, Lafourche and Livingston, according to her team. The RPEC in Lafayette didn’t endorse, which Quinn’s supporters count as a win of sorts, since that’s Coussan’s home base.
Quinn hailed from Metairie when she served in the Senate from 2005 to 2012, though she currently lives in Baton Rouge. Her married name is Quinn-Summerville, though she will appear on the ballot as “Julie Quinn,” as she was known in the Legislature.
Her supporters expect to pull together around $250,000, which they say is enough to get her message out. Because she cannot outraise Coussan, she will need to out-conservative him.
On a PSC with two Democrats and two other Republicans, Green was often the swing vote. Many Republicans considered him wobbly, and Quinn’s supporters will work to paint Coussan with the same brush.
“The next public service commissioner will either tip the scales to more conservative or liberal,” she says in a campaign statement. “I am a fiscal conservative who believes the federal government under Joe Biden has overreached and is causing corporations, especially utility companies, to make unnecessary infrastructure modifications that are being passed on to consumers.”
One question hovering over this race: Will any third-party groups get involved? Quinn’s supporters have floated that possibility, though it hasn’t happened yet.
Outside groups that support renewable energy got behind Public Service Commissioner Davante Lewis in his 2022 race, helping him upset incumbent Lambert Boissiere III. Laborde has a similar pro-renewable stance, and while such groups might not be eager to invest in a race in a far more conservative district, Laborde says he’s working on making those connections.
“It is absolutely underway, I can promise you,” he says.
Jeremy Alford publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter, or Facebook. He can be reached at JJA@LaPolitics.com.
