(The Center Square) — The race for Louisiana Attorney General is drawing more campaign contributions than all but the governor’s race, and one of the three candidates is collecting more than half of them.
Republican Solicitor General Liz Murrill, a top deputy to Attorney General Jeff Landry, reported $509,440 in contributions during the April through July campaign finance reporting period. With $100,426 in expenditures, Murrill reported over $1.4 million in cash on hand through July 6.
Both Murrill’s contributions and cash on hand dwarfs her closest competition, Crowley Republican Rep. John Stefanski, who collected $139,485 in contributions during the reporting period and spent $107,114, leaving him with $677,795 in the bank.
Republican Marty Maley, a former West Baton Rouge posecutor and attorney general candidate in 2015, trailed the field with $63,486 in contributions, which included loans of $53,875, mostly from Maley.
The campaign finance report shows Maley spent $53,928 and had $26,089 in the bank in July.
Union Parish District Attorney John Belton, an Independent, withdrew from the race in June.
The fundraising dynamic is unlikely to change, with the Louisiana Republican Party last week endorsing Murrill in the race. The endorsement will allow Murrill to more easily raise money through the party and Republican Attorneys General Association, which has also endorsed her.
“With a new governor, legislature, and attorney general, we will have an opportunity to bring true conservative reform to state government,” Murrill said. “Now is the time for Republicans to come together. When we stand together, we win.”
Murrill has touted her work with Landry, the leading candidate for governor, on dozens of lawsuits against the Biden administration, from challenges to social cost of greenhouse gas policies to the administration’s halt on public oil and gas leases.
If elected, Murrill, the state’s first solicitor general, would become the first woman to serve as the state’s chief legal officer, a position she said she would use to push back on EPA efforts to regulate greenhouse emissions from power plants. She’s currently leading a lawsuit involving 43 parishes, 10 states, and a dozen levy boards against the Federal Emergency Management Association’s new risk rating system that’s driving up flood insurance costs.
Stefanski, meanwhile, has highlighted his tough-on-crime voting record in the Legislature, where he sponsored legislation last session that took effect this month to significantly increase the criminal penalties for fentanyl dealers and manufacturers.
Maley has pointed to his track record prosecuting serial killers and his leadership helping crime victims, and has called for more law enforcement officers with better training.
All three candidates will appear on the ballot on Oct. 14. If one candidate does not receive more than 50% of the vote, the top two vote recipients advance to the Nov. 18 general election. Currently, there is no Democratic candidate vying for the post. The filing deadline for the race is Thursday.
