Abraham pledges to keep his aim on Edwards in Louisiana governor race

BATON ROUGE, La. — U.S. Rep. Ralph Abraham, the leading Republican candidate for Louisiana governor, is pledging to keep his campaign ire focused on Democratic incumbent John Bel Edwards, after another GOP contender in the race unleashed an attack ad against Abraham.

Businessman Eddie Rispone’s decision to launch a TV ad Tuesday slamming Abraham has drawn backlash from some Republicans who call it the wrong strategy to defeat Edwards. They worry about repeating the GOP infighting of the 2015 governor’s race that helped Edwards become the Deep South’s only Democratic governor.

“There has been an unfortunate and VERY ILL-ADVISED turn in the campaign for Louisiana Governor. I have known Eddie Rispone longer than I have known Ralph Abraham and I like and respect him very much, but this was and continues to be a huge mistake,” Shreveport Republican Rep. Alan Seabaugh said in a Facebook post announcing he’ll support Abraham.

Abraham released a statement calling the ad full of “baseless personal attacks” and suggesting he wouldn’t respond with an attack ad of his own.

“This is the literal playbook that allowed John Bel to be elected four years ago,” the third-term congressman from northeast Louisiana said. He added: “We will continue to run a race aimed solely at John Bel, based on ideas and principles that are best for Louisiana.”

Louisiana conservative talk radio host Moon Griffon endorsed Abraham on Tuesday, saying Rispone needs to pull his attack ad because it will only help Edwards in the race. But Rispone campaign spokesman Anthony Ramirez said the ad will stay on the air.

Rispone, owner of an industrial contracting company from Baton Rouge, is running third in polls for the Oct. 12 primary behind second-place Abraham, despite pouring millions of his own money into the race and spending five times as much as Abraham. He’s put more than $11 million of his own cash into his campaign account and used several million of it so far.

Republican party leaders had tried to keep their two main candidates from intraparty battles in the governor’s race, with state GOP Chairman Louis Gurvich months ago calling on the gubernatorial candidates to stay focused on defeating Edwards.

Melinda Deslatte/Associated Press, File ■ U.S. Rep. Ralph Abraham speaks March 18 at a business event hosted by the Republican Governors Association in Baton Rouge, La. Republicans challenging Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards are not matching the Democrat’s fundraising pace as they ready for final advertising blitzes ahead of the Oct. 12 election. Abraham brought in $761,000 from donors.