Louisiana Is Now A ‘Ruby Red’ State, Democrats Are in Complete Disarray

Roy Fletcher, one of Louisiana’s most influential political  consultants, held forth at the Chamber of Commerce of East Baton Rouge Parish in November.

Fletcher, who has represented more than 1,000 candidates over the years, discussed the recent elections and where he feels the state is going.

Fletcher said the most significant things to realize about the elections is that Louisiana is now a “ruby red” state and that Democrats are so demoralized that they cannot field good candidates or get their voters to turn out for elections.

Fletcher said the early endorsement of Jeff Landry for governor by the GOP took away the possibility of any real competition. Fletcher credits Landry’s political skill in orchestrating the endorsement and keeping John Kennedy out of the race.

He said another important takeaway from the election is that the Republican Party is now totally a party of ordinary people, and the country club elite who formerly controlled it are no longer a major force.

He said the party began a dramatic change with the governor’s race of 1991 and continued with the governor’s race in 1995 and the U.S. Senate race in 1996.

Since then, the blue collar side of the party has always won.  Moreover, the country club Republicans completely collapsed in 2023 when the head of LABI, running for governor received only 6 percent of the vote.

Fletcher discussed why people failed to vote in 2023. On the one hand, he said, some believe there is a deep pessimism about the state and country, and people just don’t care.  But he cited Dr. John Fleming, the newly-elected state Treasurer, who said that people do care but the Democrats didn’t but up a campaign, Republican voters knew they were going to win, and were not motivated to turn out.

Fletcher said Gov.-elect Jeff Landry must produce results so that people see tangible benefits from his election.

He said one of the most important things is to attack the crime problem, especially where there are woke D.A.’s elected by George Soros. [Editor’s note: Since Fletcher’s speech, the governor-elect and Attorney General-elect Liz Murrill have announced they have reached an agreement with the D.A. of Orleans Parish under which State Police will begin patrolling the streets of New Orleans, and the Attorney General’s office will prosecute those arrested.]

Fletcher questioned the wisdom of doing away with open primaries and adopting closed primaries. He said open primaries have worked well for Louisiana and for the Republican Party.  He said closed primaries will lead to too many acrimonious fights within the Republican Party.

“The open primary requires people to work together” and reach across party lines, he said.

The long-time political consultant raised questions about the conservative fascination with abolishing the income tax.  He raised the question, “Who’s going to pay?”

“At the Capitol, everybody wants to repeal the income tax but nobody wants to cut government, They just want to raise other taxes. So the question is, Who’s going to pay?”

Some want to do away with the homestead exemption, but it’s not going to happen, Fletcher said.

A proponent of ranked choice voting asked his position on that issue. Fletcher said he spent four days with advocates of ranked choice voting in California.  His conclusion was, “It’s not going to happen either, nor should it happen.”

Asked about Liz Murrill, Fletcher said, “She’s a tough cookie. She will be quick to support Jeff Landry when he’s right and will set him straight when he’s wrong.”