Accountability | Louisiana
Abraham Repeatedly Touts Support From Racists
Louisiana Gov. Candidate and incumbent Congressman Ralph Abraham has failed to disavow support from local leaders with troubling patterns of racism, suggesting the lawmaker believes that stoking the flames of racism will benefit his politics during the final stretch of the campaign.
As recently as last week, Abraham touted support from Sabine Parish District Attorney Don Burkett, who is alleged to have intentionally dismissed African American jurors in a trial where a black man was accused of murder. According to reporting by the Sabine Index, in a January 2019 trial the defendant’s legal team alleged that Burkett stacked the deck against the defendant: only objecting to 4.35% of white jurors while striking 50% of black jurors.
Accountability | Louisiana
Abraham’s Vow to Not “Roll Back” Medicaid Revives History of Praising Jindal For Gutting Program
In a press conference last week, Louisiana Congressman Ralph Abraham vowed he would not “roll back” Medicaid expansion in Louisiana, despite his sordid history of targeting Medicaid recipients, including showering former Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal with praise as he slashed the program during his tenure as head of Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals in the late 90s.
During the same freewheeling press conference, Abraham callously called Bel Edwards move to expand Medicaid in Louisiana -- which provided health coverage for more than 400,000 Louisianans -- a “debacle.”
Accountability | Louisiana
Analysis: Ralph Abraham Bests Bobby Jindal’s Absenteeism, Misses Record Number of Votes During Louisiana Gubernatorial Bid
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.
Accountability | Louisiana
Ralph Abraham Touts Endorsements from Controversial Local Officials Accused of Peddling Racist Rhetoric
Rep. Ralph Abraham’s campaign for governor of Louisiana is boasting about the endorsements of a local official who caused a stir with a campaign sign evoking the state’s lynching past and a mayor who last week downplayed a racist meme shared by his town's police chief.
Health Care | Louisiana
Steve Scalise Stays Quiet on Ralph Abraham’s Remark That Medicaid Recipients ‘Vote for a Living’
House Minority Whip Steve Scalise took a fellow Republican to task last week for saying his constituents sat idly waiting for the government’s help after Hurricane Katrina, but he’s been mum on a fellow Louisianan’s characterization of Medicaid recipients as lazy people who vote in order to stay on the dole. Rep. Ralph Abraham, a third-term Republican now running for governor, was recorded last week telling donors at a fundraiser that Medicaid recipients were “voting for a living instead of working.”
Accountability | Louisiana
Ralph Abraham’s Congressional Office Posted, Then Deleted, Stories About Campaign in Violation of Ethics Rules
Rep. Ralph Abraham’s congressional website shared more than 20 articles covering his campaign for governor of Louisiana last month, seemingly in violation of House ethics rules against using official resources to campaign.
Accountability | Louisiana
Abraham Skips Votes to Campaign As Thousands of Louisianans Go Unpaid
With the House in session Wednesday looking for a way out of the longest-running government shutdown in U.S. history, Rep. Ralph Abraham, R-La., was in his home state holding a fundraiser for his gubernatorial run with a campaign donor.