Republican candidate for Louisiana Governor Ralph Abraham missed more votes in Congress in 2019 than even fellow Republican Bobby Jindal did in the same time period during Jindal’s campaign for Governor in 2007.
Between April 2019 and June 2019, Abraham, who is currently a U.S. Congressman representing Louisiana’s 5th Congressional District, missed 55.4% of all Congressional votes, placing him in the 99th percentile in absences for all members of the current U.S. House of Representatives.
During the same time period in 2007, Jindal who then-represented Louisiana’s 1st Congressional District, missed just 3.3% of Congressional votes.
In defense of his missed votes in June 2019, Abraham cited Jindal’s voting record, falsely saying the former Governor had missed more votes during his 2007 gubernatorial bid.
Abraham’s jab at Jindal’s voting record in Congress comes after the two have enjoyed a near decade-long relationship of political synergy in Louisiana, suggesting that Abraham recognizes that the former Governor’s dismal ratings across Louisiana are beginning to present a political problem for the Republican this year.
Abraham’s attempt to distance himself from his ally could prove to be difficult considering the history the two share.
Between 2007 and 2009, Abraham donated $10,000 to Jindal’s various campaigns for public office, including a $5,000 donation in 2009 to Jindal’s re-election efforts. In 2007, Abraham also appeared in an ad on behalf of Jindal’s gubernatorial campaign, entitled “Dr. Ralph,” and touted Jindal’s health care record as the former secretary of the state Department of Health and Hospitals in Louisiana.
“I see so many people who depend on Medicaid. I remember back when the whole system was about to collapse from corruption,” Abraham said at the time. “But then, Bobby Jindal went to work, Bobby cleaned up the corruption and stopped the insider deals.”
From 1996-1997, under Jindal’s tenure in the Department of Health and Hospitals in Louisiana, 65,000 Louisianans lost their Medicaid coverage.