Louisiana Republican Rep. Ralph Abraham is currently the only member running for governor and he doesn’t have to give up his seat to do it. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Last cycle, nine members left Congress to try to become governor and five ended up winning the state’s top job. But this cycle will be a different story. While 38 states elected a governor in 2017 or 2018, just 14 states will elect a governor in the next two years. And fewer opportunities to move up will limit the exodus from the House.
Currently, there’s just one House member running for governor, and he doesn’t have to give up his seat to do it.
Louisiana GOP Rep. Ralph Abraham is running for governor. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Louisiana Rep. Ralph Abraham is running for governor in 2019.
“I’m running for governor and I intend to win,” the Republican lawmaker tweeted Thursday morning.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., will not be running for governor. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Louisiana GOP Sen. John Kennedy announced Monday that he has decided against a run for governor next year.
“I love being in the United States Senate. I will not be a candidate for Governor in 2019,” Kennedy said in a statement. “I will, however, continue to work hard every day in D.C. and Louisiana for jobs, economic growth, cheaper health insurance, a stronger military, and an end to government waste.”
Democrats have characterized the gubernatorial ambitions of Rep. Ralph Abraham, R-La., as a way to “quit” the House given Republicans will soon be the minority party in the lower chamber. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Louisiana Rep. Ralph Abraham signaled he will likely run for governor next year but stopped short of fully committing to the race.
“If I had to make a decision today, it would be that I was running,” the 5th District Republican said in an interview with the Monroe News Star, pledging to make a final decision by Jan. 1. “The focus always needs to be how Louisiana can be a better place and we just aren’t getting there with the current governor.”
Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., Senate Agriculture Committee chairman, says there are stark differences between the House and Senate farm bills. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
The 2014 farm bill expired Sunday, ending dozens of programs and putting others in a holding pattern until four key lawmakers either produce a replacement bill or seek some form of extension of the now defunct law.
The four principal negotiators working on a 2018 farm bill say they hope to resolve differences between House and Senate farm bills and have a conference report ready in October for a vote in the lame-duck session in November or December.
President Donald Trump answers a final question while departing a news conference following his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday in Singapore. Trump described his meeting with Kim as “better than anyone could have expected.” (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump made history Tuesday in Singapore as the first American president to meet face-to-face with a leader of North Korea since the Kim dynasty sprouted on the peninsula roughly seven decades ago.
At the heart of negotiations was the “complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization” of the Korean peninsula in exchange for “security guarantees” for the North’s mercurial leader, Kim Jong Un.
House Agriculture Chairman K. Michael Conaway, R-Texas, at podium, aims to have a House vote on the GOP-written farm bill in early May . Flanking him, from left, Reps. Neal Dunn, R-Fla., James R. Comer, R-Ky., Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn., Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., Roger Marshall, R-Kan., Ralph Abraham, R-La., Bob Gibbs, R-Ohio, and Rick W. Allen, R-Ga. (Ellyn Ferguson/CQ Roll Call)
(Courtesy @FloorCharts screenshot of C-SPAN)
From tributes to senators to hours of testimony from a tech giant, spring has been a visual mixed bag in Congress.
Lawmakers like these oversized and sometimes garish visual aids because they help them get their point across. The Twitter handle @FloorCharts posts some of the daily highlights, and we’re doing a monthly roundup of the best of the best.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., says he hasn’t decided about a run for governor, but he criticized the state’s Democratic governor, John Bel Edwards. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy says he is weighing a challenge to the state’s incumbent Democratic governor, John Bel Edwards.
Kennedy told WWL that he had not made a final decision while also calling Edwards ineffective.
Louisiana Rep. Ralph Abraham, pictured on Tuesday, told Roll Call in a statement that he would oppose any additional restrictions on bump stocks. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
Updated Oct. 31 at 12:35 p.m. | In the wake of the Oct. 1 Las Vegas shooting — the deadliest in U.S. history — lawmakers from both parties were quick to call for a review of the bump stock attachments found on 12 of the rifles in the gunman's hotel room.
Most lawmakers have signaled they support more strictly regulating the devices. But GOP and Democratic leaders diverge on whether the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) already has the authority under current gun laws to regulate them.
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