LAFAYETTE, LA — Louisiana next governor and his opponents took the stage Thursday inside the University of Lafayette’s Angelle Hall.

All three of the men vying to become the future leader of the state wanted to make sure voters knew how they differed from each other, and it was easy to hear in their answers from Louisiana Public Broadcasting’s debate.

“You are entitled to your opinion but not your own facts”, stated Democrat Governor john bel Edwards

Throughout the entire debate Thursday night, there were as many political punches as there were policy points.

Every opponent slung dirt. At one point Congressman Ralph Abraham told his Republican rival, “You know that the target we should be working on is the opponent to your left”.

They could agree on the trade war and more spending on early childhood education. Governor Edwards said he’d allot at least $86 million toward childhood education in his second term, but when it came to where cuts need to be made to fund roads and other projects, they had different answers and disagree with where the state is heading.

“We have to do something different”, Republican businessman and candidate Eddie Rispone, said. “It’s going to take a CEO. We have a 30 billion dollar operation, and we keep electing politicians to be our governor”.

Abraham said, “We don’t have a revenue problem. We do have a spending problem, and the way to bring that back is to bring jobs back in”.

Governor Edwards did not agree with his Republican challengers. Edwards likened them to the governor he replaced, “They are prescribing going back to the very same policies of Bobby Jindal that failed us so miserably. The people of Louisiana are not going back. I assure you we are going forward in Louisiana”.

That is just a snippet of what the candidates debated.
They also covered death row, redistricting, climate change, and more.
You can watch the full debate here.