Jeff Landry has $5 million on hand in his bid to be LA Governor

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Jeff Landry will report $5 million in cash on hand Wednesday when he files his first finance report for the governor’s race, a campaign spokesperson said Tuesday.

A pro-Landry super PAC that has also been raising money for the attorney general – but cannot coordinate its efforts with his gubernatorial campaign – has another $1.5 million on hand, his campaign said.

Altogether, that $6.6 million is likely to be the largest campaign war chest for any of the gubernatorial candidates.

In addition, the Louisiana Republican Party had $530,000 as of Jan. 31 and can spend its money for Landry after endorsing him late last year.

Hunter Lundy, a trial lawyer and Christian minister from Lake Charles running as an independent, has $1.6 million on hand. He loaned $1.4 million of it to his campaign. Lundy is the only other gubernatorial candidate to disclose his fundraising numbers.

All of the candidates are required on Wednesday to file campaign reports showing their contributions, expenditures and cash on hand for 2022.

How much a candidate raises in the early stages of a race is important because it can encourage or discourage other donors to give.

For comparison's sake, Gov. John Bel Edwards reported $8.3 million at this point four years ago when he was running for re-election.

Former U.S. Sen. David Vitter, the Republican front-runner for governor in 2015, had $3.5 million in cash eight years ago. (He ultimately lost the race to Edwards, who had only $785,000 in cash at this point eight years ago.) Vitter did not have the benefit of an endorsement by the state GOP at this point in his race, as Landry does now.

The other Republican candidates for governor this year are Treasurer John Schroder, state Sen. Sharon Hewitt of Slidell and state Rep. Richard Nelson of Mandeville.

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