Kennedy can only wish he didn’t have an appealing opponent

Published 5:00 am Friday, February 25, 2022

The Super Bowl is over and all eyes turn to mid-term Congressional elections. The oft expressed sentiment that U.S. Senators ought to be term limited by law may have merit, but belies the truth that elected officials face voters periodically and terms can be limited very effectively by voters at the polls. I am not minimizing the difficulty of defeating a recognizable, well-funded incumbent like Senator John Kennedy, particularly when the opponent is not particularly appealing, but Kennedy can only wish he did not have an appealing opponent in the 2022 Senatorial election.

Kennedy is opposed by Luke Mixon, a 42-year-old U.S. Naval Academy graduate who flew fighters for 17 years over the course of four deployments in support of missions in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. His core values are honor and service and his credentials speak clearly of his potential to be an outstanding representative for the people of Louisiana as one of our senators. He has walked the walk of service and patriotism and is as far from being a career politician as any person can be.

Kennedy, on the other hand, is a career politician whose core values begin and end with whatever is expedient to win office. He has run as a Democrat (as far left as Louisiana will tolerate) and now runs as a conservative Republican. There’s nothing wrong with running to win, but when the campaign is over, the winner should represent the interests of the people he serves. He has voted against those interests by voting to repeal Obamacare and against the infrastructure bill due to mindless ideology that makes him against anything that might appear to give Biden an accomplishment. I am certain, nevertheless, when the roads and bridges are built in Louisiana he will be at the ribbon cuttings looking for the nearest TV camera. My pet peeve is that Kennedy, a graduate of Vanderbilt University, the University of Virginia Law School and Oxford in England, prefers to play the role of hayseed and talk down to his constituency through inane sound bites.

We deserve better and Mixon is much more likely to be a statesman, not a politician. His interest is continuing a life of public service, not starting a career in politics. He is worthy of admiration for many reasons, but certainly for the courage and integrity to run in Louisiana with a “D” behind his name. Unsurprisingly, Kennedy has already depicted him as a far-left California liberal socialist. How likely is it that a man born on a sugar cane farm in central Louisiana, a graduate of the Naval Academy and a decorated war veteran is a socialist? Not very.

Look past the “D” behind Mixon’s name. Give him a chance.

ED GRANGER

NEW IBERIA