Mandeville Representative Richard Nelson Enters Louisiana Governor’s Race

MANDEVILLE, La. (KPEL News) - A new, fresh face is entering the race to be Louisiana's next governor with a message that it's time to replace "leaders who are stuck in the past."

At the age of 36 years old, State Representative Richard Nelson of Mandeville has put his name into a race that is headlined by state Attorney General Jeff Landry, State Treasurer John Schroder, chair of the Senate Republican Caucus and chair of the Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee Sharon Hewitt, and attorney Hunter Lundy. We are still waiting to hear if U.S. Representative Garret Graves jumps in or if a Democrat will actually jump into the race as well.

Rep. Nelson enters the race with a message that could resonate with many Louisiana voters: the end of the Louisiana income tax, as pointed out by lailluminator.com. He has gone on the record as saying that the state’s complicated tax structure is a reason why it continues to lose population. He also points to Louisiana's history of below average rankings and says if the state is just average then "we'd all live 4 years longer and get a 33% raise."

Louisiana has everything going for it, but is held back by leaders who are stuck in the past,” Nelson declares in his announcement video. “If Louisiana were just average in the country, we'd all live 4 years longer and get a 33% raise. That's what bad government is costing us: four years of our lives and a third of our income.”

The Mandeville representative has been in office since 2019.