Three years after his release from a federal prison, 86-year-old former Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards announced Monday that he will enter the race for Louisiana's 6th Congressional District, ending months of speculation about his political future, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Edwards made the announcement at a meeting of the Press Club of Baton Rouge, the Times reported. He entered a crowded meeting room with his third wife, Trina, more than 50 years his junior.
Edwards pushed a baby carriage with their infant son, Eli Wallace Edwards, born last August, and assured reporters and supporters that he is eligible for congressional office despite his criminal conviction in 2000, according to the Times.
Edwards is running for a seat being vacated by Republican Bill Cassidy, who is running for Senate against incumbent Democrat U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, the Times reported.
A lifelong Democrat, he sounded as though he was shaping a platform aimed at swaying voters in a conservative district that leans Republican, the Times reported.
Edwards backs the Keystone XL oil pipeline and was critical of Democratic President Barack Obama's health care law, saying it was "fraught with pitfalls" and failed to allow people to keep insurance policies they like, according to the Times.
The state Republican Party quickly released a statement lambasting Edwards and his party, saying the former governor brought fame to the state "for all the wrong reasons," the Times reported.
"The Edwards Administration brought Louisiana higher taxes, increased gambling and a culture of corruption that has harmed our image and business climate for decades," the statement said, according to the Times.
Edwards served two terms as governor in the 1970s and was re-elected in 1983 and made another comeback for a fourth term in 1991, overcoming scandals of prior years to defeat David Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan leader who had once expressed Nazi sympathies, the Times reported.
He served eight years in prison for a felony conviction arising from the licensing of riverboat casinos in his fourth term, according to the Times. Before and after his prison term, he defended himself as a victim of an unfair federal judge in Baton Rouge, perjured testimony by former friends who had sought casino licenses and an overzealous federal government but federal prosecutors have denied all of those accusations.
