The Gubernatorial Election is right around the corner, and citizens are taking these last few days to finalize their vote. At the same time, the candidates are still doing everything they can to win votes, including participating in the TigerTV Gubernatorial Debate on October 21.
Jay Dardenne is Louisiana’s Lt. Governor, and he is one of the top four candidates in the race for Governor. Dardenne will be attending the debate at LSU. With this being the last debate before elections, he hopes to give the people everything they need to make the right decision.
Dardenne says he will put higher education first, but he will not propose deep higher education budget cuts like the current administration did in the past.
“Higher education is going to be my priority,” Dardenne said. “I’m going to be a champion for higher ed at every level, the community colleges, the technical schools and of course the four year universities.”
LSU junior Myles Sonnier works for Dardenne’s campaign and believes this is a major reason college students should pay attention to Dardenne.
“He is going to be the education governor given the chance,” Sonnier said. “He wants to see LSU at its peak. He wants to see all higher ed at its peak, and I think that that is something all LSU students and all students in general should really rally behind.”
In addition to promoting higher education, Dardenne also says he will be more accessible than the current governor. Once a year he intends to spend some time in each major area of Louisiana by keeping office hours in major cities.  This means “the governor is coming to the people, and the people can see their governor in their own backyard” said Dardenne.   
Based on his past experience, Dardenne and his supporters believe he can solve Louisiana’s budget problems. Dardenne claims that he has been able to be more effective than his predecessors with less money. Myles Sonnier agrees.
“He has been proven to do more with less. He has cut the budget of every office he’s had since Secretary of State, and he has gotten more accomplished in those offices,” Sonnier said.
Dardenne also separates himself from the other candidates by saying he is not a “Washington politician.” He is concerned about Louisiana only rather than worrying about other states. He has not been involved in Washington or any of the “corruption” that occurs there.
“I have not been one who has fooled with Washington and the impasses they take up there, the partisanship that takes place up there,” Dardenne said.
Of course, there have been negative ads towards Dardenne calling him a liberal and saying he voted for abortion and illegal immigration.
“Those ads are distortions. They are false. They are intentionally designed to mislead and get people all upset,” Dardenne said.
These negative ads have not affected how Dardenne is running his campaign. He is running a positive campaign based on his reputation, and he has not sponsored negative ads toward other candidates.
Despite being low in the polls, he is where he expected to be, said Dardenne. There is a large undecided vote in the state, and they will be making their decision in the next few days. Dardenne encourages people not decide their vote based on the polls.
While Dardenne believes all four candidates have a chance of winning this race, he also believes the people of Louisiana will have confidence in him as a Governor.
“People in this state have voted for me four time in four different statewide offices,” Dardenne said. “I hope they know me and they know my reputation for honesty and integrity, and I hope people will evaluate all the candidates and decide who is the one with the best character and the best integrity to lead this state.”