Congressman Steve Scalise will have a Democratic challenger in next year’s general election. Special education teacher Lauren Jewett is launching a campaign to unseat the nine-term incumbent.
“I am fighting for people who love living here in Louisiana and know if they have a pride in living here, and want to stay here, and what can we do collectively to help make that a reality for folks so that they don’t have to leave,” Jewett said.
Jewett says she feels that she’s more in tune with the needs of the people of Louisiana’s First Congressional District, particularly those on Medicaid.
“I don’t feel that our congressperson is being attuned to the fact that a lot of the people in our state rely on the use of Medicaid. It’s about 43-44 % of our state’s population. It’s about 1.5 million people,” Jewett stated.
Jewett acknowledges that it will not be easy to raise the money that Scalise brings in. In fact, according to the latest Federal Election Commission filings, Jewett reported just over $7,300 in cash on hand, compared to Scalise’s $5 million.
“This is going to be a lot of small donations, but we know small donations and organized people can beat the organized money,” Jewett said.
So far, no one else, either Republican or Democrat, has declared his or her candidacy. The district is very heavily Republican.
