BATON ROUGE – Governor John Bel Edwards said he’s looking forward to continuing his working relationship with President Trump despite Trump’s multiple trips to Louisiana to campaign for Eddie Rispone.
Trump is scheduled to speak at a rally in Bossier City just two days before the November 16 runoff election between Edwards and Rispone.
“First of all, the president’s welcome to come anytime,” Edwards said. “This is the political season, the election is coming to a close, and he’s doing what his party expects of him, and that’s quite alright.”
Edwards said he has enjoyed a good relationship with the president over the past three years, and he expects that to continue.
“You know, I’ve been invited to the White House nine times by the president,” Edwards said. “I met with him and his cabinet to talk about things like the opioid epidemic, transportation infrastructure, criminal justice reform. That working relationship is going to resume. I think it’s critically important that the governor of Louisiana have a good relationship with the president regardless of party.”
As for Rispone, Edwards said the campaign the businessman has conducted has targeted the New Orleans area in a very negative way while attempting to shift the focus away from Louisiana.
“My opponent is running for governor of Louisiana by running against New Orleans,” Edwards said. “He came to the legislature, he opposed the fair share bills whereby New Orleans can raise the revenue from itself in order to address infrastructure and the Sewerage and Water Board, he continuously calls New Orleans a sanctuary city even though the Department of Justice hasn’t said that, President Trump hasn’t said that, even Jeff Sessions when he was Attorney General, he didn’t say that. So it’s unfortunate that Mr. Rispone would seek to be the governor of Louisiana by running against the City of New Orleans.”