BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) - In a field crowded with Republicans and one Democrat, a lone Independent has worked his way into being one of the major candidates running for governor.
“I think change can happen.”
Lake Charles Attorney Hunter Lundy looks to step away from political infighting, offering himself as the only candidate not belonging to a political party.
“I think the divisiveness in the state has trickled down from the national government,” Lundy said.
He toes the line between heavily Christian-influenced conservatism and taking a more moderate approach when it comes to financial issues, like investing in education.
“Well, the money's there to pay for it. They could have paid more money for roads and bridges. They're going to take more money from health care. Divisive politics resulted in a lot of bad results.”
He supports renewing the half-cent sales tax that will roll off after the first year of the next administration to keep investments rolling into early childhood education and infrastructure.
With crime taking the front seat of this election season, Lundy believes educating kids is one way to help end the school-to-prison pipeline – that and more money in the right places.
“We got to pay our policemen and we got to pay our firemen. We got those people that protect us need to be paid and they need to know that we appreciate them,” Lundy said.
Being a homeowner in Calcasieu Parish, Lundy knows the devastation of the insurance crisis. He plans to call a special session to address it if elected.
“After Laura, they weren't advancing any money and they were sending adjusters out there that were not prepared. We're going to attack insurance,” Lundy said.
He agreed the incentives the legislature funded this year were important, but the companies also have to be held accountable to pay out legitimate claims from policyholders.
Turning to social issues, Lundy is a hard line in the sand when it comes to LGBTQ issues.
“I think the legislature took care of it. I agreed with what they did,” Lundy said.
He believes the legislature got it right when they overturned the governor’s veto of the ban on gender-affirming care for minors. He also supports the state’s version of the Don’t Say Gay bill that failed this year.
“Parents need to be addressing those issues with their children. Teachers shouldn't have to have that responsibility as teachers there to teach,” Lundy said.
He also does not support adding any additional exceptions to the state’s strict abortion ban, including for rape and incest.
“There's always two victims to an abortion, always the child and the mother. I just know too many people that were birthed and have been born out of what some would call rape or some would call incest. And how do you define that in Louisiana,” Lundy said.
Investing millions of his own dollars, Lundy believes he can cut through the other candidates’ mudslinging.
“You don’t have growth until you are in unity and so we are going to be in unity,” Lundy said.
The primary is set for Oct. 14. The general election will be Nov. 18.
