With President-elect Donald Trump visiting Baton Rouge Friday, Republicans are bringing their most powerful weapon to rally supporters to vote for John N. Kennedy, the Republican candidate in Saturdayโs U.S. Senate runoff election.
Trumpโs visit will occur six days after Vice President-Elect Mike Pence traveled to New Orleans to rally Republicans for Kennedy, the veteran state treasurer.
Democrats have not countered with any big-name visits for Foster Campbell, the elected member of the Public Service Commission who is facing off against Kennedy.
Instead, Campbell is relying on local volunteers and folks such as Lindsay Randall, a 31-year-old resident of Seattle, who arrived to New Orleans Friday night to begin assisting Campbellโs get-out-the vote effort.
โIโm here to do whatever is helpful,โ Randall said, โtraining people to make calls and knock on doors.โ
Other Democrats throughout the country, trying to reverse the Nov. 8 Republican tide, are organizing phone banks to call ถถา๕h voters and contributing money to his campaign.
Saturdayโs Senate election is the last in the country thanks to Louisianโs unique election laws in which Nov. 8 โ the final election for everyone else โ was the primary here.
Kennedy is the clear favorite, but Republicans are taking no chances by having Pence and then Trump visit.
โWe have one more race to win this year, right here in your great state,โ Pence told several hundred cheering supporters inside an empty hangar at New Orleansโ Lakefront Airport. โWe need one more push.โ
Trump will also speak at an airport hangar, the one owned by Dow Chemical at the Baton Rouge airport. Standing with him will be the partyโs top elected leaders.
โWe need to end on a good note,โ U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, of Mississippi, the chairman of the Republican committee charged with electing Republican candidates nationwide, said in a recent interview. โWe need 52.โ
The number refers to the Republican count in the Senate if Kennedy wins. If Campbell pulls off an upset, the Republican advantage instead will be 51-49.
Kennedy, who became a Republican in 2007, has been campaigning as a fervent Trump supporter who wants to repeal the federal Affordable Care Act โ the act โsucks,โ he said in a recent television commercial โ build the wall along the Mexican border, cut taxes, appoint conservative justices to the U.S. Supreme Court, oppose abortion and oppose limits on gun purchases.
โI believe love is the answer, but own a handgun just in case,โ Kennedy says in a campaign brochure.
Campbell is calling for an increase in the federal minimum wage from the current $7.25 per hour, strengthening laws to make sure women get paid the same amount as men for equal work and rebuilding roads, bridges and ports. He favors keeping the Affordable Care Act while โimproving it,โ and he opposes abortion.
โI will support Trump when he wants to build roads,โ Campbell said at one recent event. โI will oppose him if he wants to privatize Social Security.โ
Republicans have opened 10 field offices throughout the state, staffed in part with officials from the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the National Republican Party.
Campbell surprised insiders recently by raising $2.5 million during the Oct. 20 to Nov. 20 reporting period to Kennedyโs $1.6 million.
Laura Edwards, who lives in Los Angeles, donated $50 and has been promoting Campbellโs candidacy on Facebook and other social media outlets.
โI feel like we canโt sit on the sidelines,โ Edwards, who produces advertising, said in a phone interview. โEven if we lose, we should be seen as fighting.โ
The Campbell campaign, Edwards and other Democratic activists said the national effort for Campbell has mostly spread on its own without support from top party officials. Much of the initial effort was directed at getting celebrities with big followings on Twitter and Facebook to talk up his candidacy, including actress Sally Fields, comedian Patton Oswalt and actor John Leguizamo.
โItโs been incredibly grassroots,โ said Lindsay Randall, who organized voters in Colorado for Hillary Clintonโs presidential campaign and after her defeat shifted gears to begin assisting Campbell. โItโs not in my blood to give up.โ
Even with the national support, the Campbell campaign says that most of the people out canvassing and making calls in ถถา๕h are local citizens.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee has sought to taint Campbell by culling his campaign finance report and listing the lengthy list of Hollywood actors, writers and producers who have donated to his campaign.
โAs he tries to pull the wool over the eyes of voters, liberal Democrat Foster Campbell is being fueled by the wrong LA โ Los Angeles instead of ถถา๕h,โ the Republican committee said in a statement.
Kennedyโs donors include representatives of corporate interests. He held two fundraisers with lobbyists in Washington in mid-November.
Saturdayโs election ends an election that had a 24-candidate field in the primary, which was winnowed that day to Kennedy and Campbell.
The runoff has failed to galvanize the public, however. The Secretary of Stateโs office is forecasting a 28 percent to 30 percent turnout on Saturday, down from 67 percent on Nov. 8 when people voted not only in the primary but also the presidential election.