By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
SLIDELL – Sen. Sharon Hewitt said she has been to “every corner of the state” since announcing in January that she would enter the race for Louisiana governor, and on Monday night back in Slidell it was apparent her hometown support couldn’t be stronger.
Hewitt swapped professional hats in 2016 by retiring from her position as a top executive with Shell Oil, then running for and winning a Senate seat in the Louisiana Legislature. The past six years in Baton Rouge saw her gain statewide attention by moving to the forefront of key issues, leading to her decision last year that she would run for governor.
With John Bel Edwards term limited out, the governorship is a wide-open race with nearly 10 people already joining the field. However, Hewitt appears to be off and running at the top of the stack when looking at fundraising efforts so far, and she stated emphatically on Monday during a local meet-and-greet that “I expect to be the next Louisiana governor.”
Hewitt hosted the meet-and-greet at Gallagher’s on Front Street, and the vast majority of top public officials in St. Tammany Parish showed up to signal their support.
“I’ve been shaking a lot of hands already around the state,” she said. “And the response has been great—I am very confident I can win this race—and I wouldn’t have gotten in if I didn’t think I could win.”
In the most recent campaign finance reports turned in by candidates through Feb. 15, Hewitt ranks as the fourth highest candidate in terms of dollars on hand, however, that is only because one candidate made himself a $1.4 million loan. Otherwise, Hewitt ranks third in terms of contributions from supporters.
She brought in $282,561 in contributions during 2022, added a $200,000 personal loan to the campaign from her husband Stan and herself, and already had a campaign war chest of $288,584.
Heading into 2023 she had $617,875 and appears to be gaining momentum with her message about growing the state’s economy and creating jobs at home that will keep college graduates in the state, rather than leaving.
“One of the biggest reasons I decided to run is because two of my family members had to leave the state to find the job they wanted,” she said. “That motivates me every day on the campaign trail to win this—Louisiana has been losing population and we have to fix that, and I know that with my background in oil and gas I have the skills to turn that around.”
During her past years in the Legislature, she made improved education a top priority, including last year when she authored a bill that has been referenced by other candidates as a critical key for Louisiana public school students.
“We have been passing kids through the third grade when they didn’t know how to read and write at a proper level,” Hewitt said. “I passed a bill last year that mandates all third graders must read at a proficient level or they couldn’t advance to the next grade.
“When we pass kids who can’t read, we are setting them up for failure, but that’s not going to happen anymore,” she added.
Hewitt said that in touring the state and talking to industry executives she continually hears one key topic—work force.
“Across every industry they tell me we don’t have enough people with the skills they need,” she explained. “Right now, there are over 185,000 jobs in Louisiana that need filling. We have to get our people back to work, and we have to do it by hiring Louisiana workers.”
Hewitt told the crowd during her brief remarks that her 20 years as a Shell executive, when she dealt with billion-dollar contracts all around the globe, prove she has the experience to run the state.
“When you think about who you will vote for you should look at what they have done in the past,” she said. “That will predict the future, and I have proven to be a doer—I get things done and I know I can do it for our state.”
Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry has a sizeable lead in campaign financing as he ranks at the top of the candidate list with $5.013 million, thanks largely to over $3 million he already had from his years as the state A.G.
St. Tammany Parish has two other candidates in the governor’s race besides Hewitt, with state Treasurer John Schroder from Mandeville ranking second in funds on hand with $2.4 million, while La. Rep. Richard Nelson from Mandeville is also in the race and has $197,346 total funds on hand.
The only other candidate with more money in their war chest is Lake Charles millionaire Hunter Lundy, the only Independent in the race, who has $1.6 million, however, $1.4 million of that came from a personal loan he made to his campaign.
All other candidates in the race are Republican other than former Louisiana Department of Transportation head Shawn Wilson, a Democrat, who announced this week he is also entering the race.