Congressman Clay Higgins is urging the major Republican U.S. Senate candidates to hold a statewide televised debate. Higgins is calling for a one-hour debate with solid questions posed by a moderator. ULM Political Science Professor Pearson Cross says Higgins wants voters to hear from the candidates and not from their PACs.
“Higgins wants to bring everything out into the open, and have the three major candidates face off against each other and get away from this sniping from the PACs and the different kinds of groups,” Cross explained.
Cross says even though Higgins has not issued an endorsement in the race, there does seem to be one in particular that he’s not supporting.
“It would be hard to imagine him backing Senator Cassidy at this point, given Higgins’ alignment with the Freedom Caucus and his support of President Trump and MAGA generally,” Cross said.
Last week, the three Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate held a televised debate in Baton Rouge. Cross says that likely had no bearing on Higgins’ call for the Republican candidates to follow suit.
“None of the statements by Congressman Higgins seem to reveal that there is, in fact, a party competition between Republicans and Democrats. He seems to think, perhaps rightly so, that the major competition lies on the Republican side of the aisle,” Cross said.
The primary election is now just 18 days away. Early voting starts Saturday.