President Donald Trump made a final full-court press Thursday night in an attempt to push Republican challenger Eddie Rispone over the top in the Louisiana gubernatorial runoff this Saturday.
According to the New York Times, Trump made a personal appeal to the rally-goers in Bossier City, a northern Louisiana Republican stronghold.
“You got to give me a big win, please, okay,” he asked of his supporters. He wants a victory in Louisiana even more acutely after another of his endorsed candidates, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R), lost in a shocking upset a day after Trump stumped for him.
He regurgitated some familiar lines about how “sleepy” Joe Biden would make for the lowest debate ratings in history, and how he did nothing impeachable, but that vindictive Democrats were out to get him.
Peppering the classic digressions were a few rare moments of introspection.
“What a life I lead,” he said at one point of the impeachment inquiry. “You think this is fun, don’t you?” He later paused after a lengthy section of his prepared remarks: “That was a long harangue.”
Polling has the runoff election very close, giving incumbent Gov. John Bel Edwards, who has expanded Medicaid and raised teachers’ pay, a slight edge. Rispone is a first-time candidate and businessman/donor hybrid who is much less well-known statewide.
