Summary
GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy, who ousted Democrat Mary Landrieu six years ago, is running for a second term.
We rate the race for U.S. Senate in Louisiana as Solid Republican.
Politico 4/19/20
OnAir Post: Louisiana – US Senate 2020 Election
News
U.S. News and World Report, – October 20, 2020
Republican U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy won’t square off in person with his primary Democratic challenger or any of his opponents ahead of the Nov. 3 election, marking this as Louisiana’s first Senate race in more than 20 years not to feature a TV debate.
Cassidy’s campaign said the GOP incumbent hasn’t received a “firm invitation” to a television debate this election. But he only apparently was interested in participating in debates that would involve allowing all 14 of his competitors to crowd the stage in the coronavirus pandemic, even those who have done little to no fundraising or campaigning.
“We will consider all requests that allow every candidate to participate,” Cassidy spokesman Ty Bofferding said in a statement.
Shreveport Times, – September 22, 2020
According to Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight Senate Report, Democrats have an 80% chance of holding between 47 to 54 seats in the upcoming election, however, the report predicts a Republican as the clear winner in Louisiana for the U.S. Senate.
Founder and editor in chief of FiveThirtyEight and the author of “The Signal and the Noise,” Silver’s model predicts incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy has 92 out of 100 chances of winning the seat, while challenger Shreveport Mayor Adrian Perkins has a one in 100 chance of winning.
SB Magazine – September 17, 2020 (24:06)
Shreveport Times, – September 10, 2020
U.S. Senate candidate Shreveport Mayor Adrian Perkins joined Jaime Harrison, a South Carolina Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, for a Thursday roundtable discussion on the importance of protecting the Affordable Care Act, (ACA).
Marking the third anniversary of the failed “Graham-Cassidy” healthcare legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act, discussions centered on the impact it would have had on Louisiana and South Carolina citizens had it not failed.
Following a string of failures in 2017 to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Senators Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy introduced the legislation.
Bill Cassidy
Current Position:Â US Senator since 2015
Affiliation:Â Republican
Candidate:Â 2020 US Senator
Dr. Bill Cassidy co-founded the Greater Baton Rouge Community Clinic, a clinic providing free dental and health care to the working uninsured. Bill also created a private-public partnership to vaccinate 36,000 greater Baton Rouge area children against Hepatitis B at no cost to the schools or parents. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Bill led a group of health care volunteers to convert an abandoned K-Mart building into an emergency health care facility, providing basic health care to hurricane evacuees.
He serves on the Finance Committee, the Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions Committee, the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and the Veterans Affairs committees.
For more information, see this Bill Cassidy post.
Adrian Perkins
Current Position:Â Mayor of Shrevport
Affiliation:Â Democrat
Candidate:Â 2020 US Senator
I’m running for the United States Senate because our country and Louisiana are at a crossroads. Washington’s political games are making us sick. My experience is different than most politicians, and it’s time to take a new road. I hope you will join me, we can get there together.
For more information, see this Adrian Perkins post.
Issues
Civil Rights
Bill CassidyÂ
2nd Amendment Rights
The Second Amendment guarantees law-abiding citizens the right to keep and bear arms. I am proud to have an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association (NRA) because I have and will continue to fight for Louisianans rights that are protected by the Constitution.
Adrian PerkinsÂ
Nothing is more American than the right to vote. It is central to a functioning democracy. I fought to protect our democracy overseas, and in the Senate I will fight to protect our voting rights.
John Lewis once said that “the right to vote is precious, almost sacred. It is the most powerful nonviolent tool or instrument in a democratic society. We must use it.” John Lewis risked his life to secure voting rights for all Americans. We honor his sacrifice, and the sacrifice of so many, by restoring and reinforcing the law for which they were willing to die.
Since voting is our birthright, I believe that Election Day should be a national holiday and that all Americans should automatically be registered to vote. I will also work to ensure that redistricting is done fairly, rather than along party lines.
It’s no secret that Washington is dysfunctional. Washington is broken because there is too much money in politics. That’s why I refuse to take one red cent of corporate PAC money to fund my campaign. I will carry that same commitment with me to the United State Senate where I will fight to overturn Citizens United and stop the flow of dark money into our elections.
Economy
Bill CassidyÂ
Budget
The national debt is more than $22 trillion. As Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Growth, I’m making it clear that fiscal responsibility is not an option, but a necessity to ensure the long term financial health of the United States. We must get federal spending under control by cutting wasteful, duplicative programs and ensuring taxpayer dollars are spent wisely. We must also save Medicare and Social Security from bankruptcy so that they are there for Americans who will need them in the future. Taking these steps will help protect our children and grandchildren from mountains of debt they cannot afford.
Adrian PerkinsÂ
COVID-19 has decimated Louisiana’s economy, displacing hundreds of thousands of workers and forcing small business owners to close their doors. And sadly, Washington has abandoned them in favor of special interests.
It’s wrong that Congress gave corporations billions in bailout funds with no oversight. I’ve been through tough times before, and know what it is like not to have enough food to eat. Louisiana needs a strong leader in the US Senate who will stand on our behalf. In the Senate, I will fight for relief for workers and small businesses so the economic recovery puts working people first.
To get our economy going, we need immediate relief and long term planning that puts people first. For starters, we need to extend the $600 federal unemployment benefits for working families. This will ensure that those impacted by the pandemic can support their families, but it will also inject money into our economy and help support local businesses. The Senate can support Louisiana’s long-term recovery by moving quickly to increase wages, build stronger infrastructure, and get people working immediately to respond to the economic crisis.
Crisis Response Jobs
Throughout our history, duty and service have transformed moments of crisis into American greatness. In response to the present economic crisis, I support increasing the number of national service positions from 75,000 to 250,000 immediately and up to 1 million over the next five to ten years. The program’s participants would include people of all ages who are willing to raise their hand and step forward. My campaign’s national service proposal aims to meet three key goals: reduce the spread of COVID-19 and address its consequences, recover from natural disasters and environmental destruction, and build national unity by unifying Americans of all walks in the service of a higher purpose. The road to recovery will be difficult, but as our history attests, no challenge is greater than the resolve of the American people.
Infrastructure
Louisiana’s infrastructure is crumbling. The federal government has long promised to fix America’s failing infrastructure, but those promises have largely gone unfulfilled. Washington has spent years talking about a comprehensive infrastructure bill. We need to act. In the Senate, I will work to build a smarter, faster, cleaner infrastructure system, including new roads, bridges, subsurface infrastructure, and a renewed investment in public transit. We’ve talked long enough. It’s time for America to roll up our sleeves and start building again.
Minimum Wage
Let’s give America a raise now and every year in the future. The U.S. minimum wage is $7.25 an hour and it hasn’t been raised in more than a decade. Washington has raised the minimum wage only 7 times in my lifetime, even though it was increased 17 times in the 34 years prior. Our current national minimum wage denies hundreds of thousands of hard-working Louisianaians a livable wage, making it nearly impossible for them to feed their families and pay their bills. It’s past time to take the politics out of people’s pockets and give working families the pay raise they deserve. We know the cost of living is higher in New York than New Orleans, but it shouldn’t take DC a decade to find a solution. I propose an immediate increase in the federal minimum wage that automatically adjusts to local economic conditions every year. This will ensure hard working Louisianaians get a raise now that keeps pace with the cost of living, rather than being bogged down by politics.
See post for more info.
Education
Bill Cassidy
Education
As a member of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, one of my top priorities is ensuring that students have access to quality educations.
Parents and teachers, not federal bureaucrats, make the best education decisions for students. Â High standards yield high achievement, and parents should have a right to choose the best educational opportunities for their children. These options include homeschooling, private and parochial schools, charter schools, and public schools.
Adrian PerkinsÂ
If we’ve learned anything from this crisis, it’s that we need to invest more in our children and families. The data is clear, early childhood education lays the groundwork for educational success. Paid family leave improves health outcomes for children and increases workforce participation. Early childhood education and family leave are an investment in America’s future that must be made. In the Senate, I will fight for our nation’s future by investing in our children and families.
My life story is a testament to the transformative power of education, family, and faith. I am a product of the Louisiana education system and a proud graduate of Captain Shreve High School – where I was Class President and All-State in track. We must expand educational opportunities in Louisiana so that all students can reach their God-given potential.
I believe education should be a national priority. The federal government should provide increased funding for state and local education systems to invest in universal pre-k education, increase pay for educators, and expand job training and vocational programs.
Educational outcomes shouldn’t be determined by the zip code in which a child is born. We live in a modern economy, where Americans are forced to compete for jobs with people around the world. What happens in Louisiana schools, impacts the rest of the country.
The crisis of 2020 is showing us how important schools are for the entire community. Along with family leave and childcare policies, the federal government can support state and local schools with subsidies for STEAM-focused early and late care programs that enrich the educational experience of students and support working families that can’t afford childcare. We should also expand life-skills programs like financial literacy and business development.
Environment
Bill CassidyÂ
Energy and Natural Resources
As chairman of the Senate Energy Subcommittee, I know America’s national and economic security depends on a balanced, comprehensive energy policy. We need to unleash American energy, including cleaner-burning natural gas that has created thousands of good-paying jobs for Louisiana families.
Lowering greenhouse gases is important. Louisiana loses a football field of land every 100 minutes due to erosion and rising sea levels. But we need serious solutions, not bumper sticker slogans. Half-baked ideas like the Green New Deal would evaporate jobs and actually increase global emissions by incentivizing manufacturing to move to high-emitting countries like China.
Louisiana and our country can be an example to the world by showing how we can expand cleaner-burning natural gas to create jobs and lower emissions at the same time.
Adrian PerkinsÂ
Louisiana is the Sportsman’s Paradise. We love our lakes, bayous, rivers, and coastal marsh. Our working coastline is a national and cultural legacy that must be protected for future generations to live, work, and play. Millions of hard-working Louisianans make their living off the land, water, and our cultural attractions.
Unfortunately, our state is disproportionately impacted by sea-level rise and extreme weather like hurricanes and floods. Our coastline is losing land at one of the fastest rates in the world. Louisiana is 6th in the nation in cancer rates and experts say it may get worse. I’m proud of Louisiana’s industries, but I won’t stand for polluters and reckless conduct.
We have a moral responsibility to future generations to solve these problems now. Instead, too many Washington politicians listen to the narrow special interests, not the economic or scientific experts. They are forcing future Lousiainans to carry an undue burden because they won’t act now.
We don’t have to choose between putting food on the table and cleaning our water and air. This year alone, 100,000 oil and gas workers have been laid off – including folks in my family. We can offer many of these workers immediate opportunities using their current skills to clean up abandoned wells. At the same time, Louisiana can develop new industries and continue to be a world-class producer of seafood, energy, and agricultural products.
Louisianans are strong, resilient, and come together in times of crisis. The massive Gulf storms that have formed the past few years remind us that we’re all in this together. We will need to work fast to recover and to rebuild stronger.
In the Senate, I will work to promote conservation, expand access to clean air and water, and require special interests to follow the Scout’s rule: Leave it cleaner than you found it.
Health Care
Bill CassidyÂ
Lowering the Cost of Healthcare
For over 25 years, I worked in Louisiana’s public hospital system as a doctor treating the uninsured and underinsured. I learned that when the patient has the power, outcomes are better. Right now, laws intended to promote innovation and protect patient safety are being used to increase the cost of prescription drugs. I am working with President Trump to increase price transparency, create more competition to lower health care costs and prescription drug prices.
Adrian PerkinsÂ
PROTECTING AND EXPANDING HEALTH CARE
Health care is a right, not a privilege, plain and simple. Over 500,000 Louisianans have access to affordable insurance thanks to the Affordable Care Act, and an additional one milion Louisianans cannot be denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions.
Senator Cassidy led the charge in the U.S. Senate to repeal the Affordable Care Act and strip health care away from millions of Americans. As a medical doctor, he should have known better. Imagine if those Louisanians had lost their care because of Senator Cassidy’s bill, what would they have done during this pandemic?
A real leader works to protect our healthcare, not take it away. In the Senate, I will not only fight to protect the ACA, I will work to expand it.
We need to strengthen the Affordable Care Act by continuing to protect people with pre-existing conditions, lowering the cost of healthcare for those who pay too much, extending coverage to those who cannot afford it, and making sure Louisianans’ health care is high quality and covers the services they need.
One thing the Senate can do right now is pass the Lower Drug Costs Now Act, which would cap prescription drug costs for our seniors on Medicare.
We need to take on the pharmaceutical and insurance companies that dominate our healthcare system. Senator Cassidy has taken millions from private companies who are only looking out for themselves. I support legislation that will lower the cost of prescription drugs and allow for the federal government to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies to bring down prices.
Immigration
Bill CassidyÂ
Border Security
We have a crisis on our southern border. I am working with President Trump to stop the flow of illegal drugs and human trafficking into our country.
We must also support the brave men and women of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and uphold our immigration laws to ensure those who want to come to the United States do so through proper, legal channels.
Adrian PerkinsÂ
N/A
Safety
Bill CassidyÂ
N/A
Adrian PerkinsÂ
COVID-19 AND OUR FAILURE OF LEADERSHIP
Our nation is fighting a two-front war: a global pandemic that has claimed over 170,000 American lives and an economic crisis that has left millions unemployed. No one is to blame for the virus, but DC politicians must be held accountable for the ensuing disaster. They politicized the pandemic and abandoned Louisianans in their hour of need. Washington’s political games cost us lives and failed to provide much-needed aid to families struggling to put food on the table or pay their bills.
As Mayor, I sounded the alarm on COVID-19 prior to the first case being recorded in Shreveport. We immediately began to geolocate cases in a city dashboard, which enabled us to shift resources, target messaging, and save lives.  Mayors are on the frontlines. We see the pain and heartache this pandemic is causing in our communities and we see the disastrous consequences of Senator Cassidy’s neglect. That’s why I am running for U.S. Senate. I cannot stand idly while the people of Louisiana suffer DC’s sick politics. We will beat this virus, but only if we work together. We need leaders who put Louisianan’s health and safety above their political agenda, and that starts with electing representatives who lead by example.
Hardworking families have waited months for the U.S. Senate to pass an economic relief package. Members of Congress need to treat this situation like it’s their own family that doesn’t know how they’re going to put food on the table. In March, Senator Cassidy voted to strip $600 weekly unemployment boost payments from the CARES Act and has since advocated for slashing the payments. Today, hundreds of thousands of Louisianans have seen their payments cut in half and tens of thousands have been left with nothing as they wonder how they will survive. We need leaders who understand that lives and livelihoods are at stake.
In the Senate, I will work to ensure that all Louisianans are afforded the relief that they need. I will also listen to the medical experts and take action to prevent and fight COVID-19.
Seniors
Bill CassidyÂ
N/A
Adrian PerkinsÂ
One of America’s greatest strengths is our caring spirit, and in that vein, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are some of our nation’s greatest achievements. They have drastically cut the number of seniors living in poverty and increased the number of seniors with access to quality healthcare.
We have lost our way when these programs come under attack. Senator Cassidy has applauded measures that jeopardize these safety nets, which our seniors not only rely upon but have earned. I will make it my mission to protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
Veterans
Bill CassidyÂ
Veterans
When our service men and women put themselves in harm’s way to defend our lives, our freedoms, we must commit to giving them the care and treatment they deserve when they return home.
We must honor this commitment by ensuring that the health care, benefits, and services promised to our veterans are fully funded and provide the quality of care they deserve. As a member of the Senate Veteran’s Affairs Committee, this is my priority.
If you are a veteran or military family in need of assistance obtaining these benefits, please call my office with any questions.
Adrian PerkinsÂ
As a veteran of two wars, I know all too well the sacrifice our service members and military families make on our behalf. We are forever grateful to our veterans, and that gratitude must be reflected in our commitment to them. Washington has defaulted on this promise for too long. We need more leaders in the Senate who have served in uniform and understand the needs of our veterans.
There are three military installations in Louisiana and more than 280,000 veterans living in our state. Sadly, 17 veterans commit suicide in America everyday, and roughly 12% of Louisiana’s homeless population served in the armed forces.Â
I am firmly committed to protecting the VA against privatization, and will work to ensure that our veterans get the care they deserve by streamlining the VA bureaucracy and expanding the services available to them. In the Senate, I will fight for better mental-health care for veterans, and for jobs programs that help them transition back into the workforce.
