Stacks of wooden foldout tables, boxes of T-shirts and campaign signs filled state Rep. John Bel Edwards’ campaign headquarters Thursday.
His team’s office, a bright yellow house in downtown Baton Rouge, bustled with sleep-deprived staff members taking calls, scheduling appearances and posting to social media ahead of the gubernatorial election a little more than two weeks away.
Edwards, an anti-abortion, Second Amendment supporting legislator from Amite — a small Louisiana town of about 4,300 residents — is the only major Democrat in the tight gubernatorial race.
His three largest opponents, Public Service Commissioner Scott Angelle, Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne and U.S. Sen. David Vitter, are all Republicans, and Edwards characterized them as supporters of Gov. Bobby Jindal and his “disastrous policies.”
“My opponents were cheerleading and enabling him, and that certainly sets me apart,” Edwards said. “I think it’s a testament to my judgment and vision about what’s been best for Louisiana, as well as the leadership I bring to bear for the state of Louisiana, to stand up and do what’s in our best interest, to pursue the common interest, opposed to the self-interest, which is what we’ve had under Bobby Jindal.”
Edwards said the most alarming trend in Louisiana during the Jindal administration was drastic cuts to state funding for higher education, a result of consistent yearly budget deficits.
Before Jindal took office, the state general fund paid for 70 percent of funding for each public college and university in the state, and 30 percent was left to tuition and fees. Now, Edwards said, the state pays for only 25 percent, while students are left with 75 percent of the cost burden.
Edwards said he is not satisfied with the “status quo” of higher education funding. The state must fund higher education first, he said, and not as an afterthought with whatever money is left over.
“The state of Louisiana has been taxing the dreams of our kids for too long,” he said. “It’s time that we start investing again for our state. There is a common benefit to both the state and the student every time a diploma is awarded, so we need to get back to a 50-50 funding ratio and stop these tuition increases.”
While Edwards battles three well-funded Republicans for leadership in a right-leaning state, he ranks third in cash on hand at around $1.4 million behind Vitter and Dardenne, according to campaign finance reports filed Sept. 24.
Vitter had around $4 million and Dardenne about $1.6 million at the deadline 30 days prior to the election. Angelle rounded out the four with slightly more than $1 million.
Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell, a Democrat, said he gave Edwards full support in the race in a September interview with The Daily Reveille.
Campbell, who worked with Angelle, Vitter and Dardenne, said the “lobby owns the Legislature,” and while he likes all the candidates, he backs Edwards.
“If I had to pick somebody to be governor, I would pick Edwards, then I would pick Dardenne, then I would pick Vitter, then I would pick Angelle,” he said.
Republicans liked when Edwards stood up to Jindal, but would not help him, Campbell said, and while Vitter has trouble working with people in the U.S. Senate, Edwards can get along with anybody.
“I have never heard one soul, Republican or Democrat, say one bad thing about John Bel Edwards,” he said.
Edwards said his Catholic faith not only augments his anti-abortion voting record, which he said is untarnished, but also his support for Medicaid expansion in Louisiana, something Jindal staunchly opposed.
Edwards said growing up with a sheriff for a father, grandfather and great-grandfather pushed him into politics, and his time at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the U.S. Army from 1984-96 gave him the discipline needed to be successful.
“Leading paratroopers out of airplanes at two o’clock in the morning, I mean, that’s just a great way to develop as a leader, and those leadership skills and experiences do translate directly into being a legislator and being a governor,” he said.
Edwards said those experiences allowed him to build coalitions of bipartisan teams to pass important legislation.
Upon leaving the Army, Edwards received his law degree from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center and moved back to Amite to open a law practice after spending a year on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
“It’s a country law practice and I try to make sure I’m able to do whatever the person needs when they come through my door,” he said. “You know if you specialize in your law practice in a small community like Amite you’ll go broke. So I try to do a little bit of everything.”

Gallery • 6 Photos

Ari Ross

Flags, pictures and campaign signs line the walls of John Bel Edwards' campaign headquarters.