Cenla resident running for Louisiana governor

JENA, La. (KALB) - Daniel “Danny” Cole, a Pentecostal pastor, became the first Democrat to become a contender for the governor’s seat on Jan. 22 with a Facebook video. On Thursday, Feb. 15, Cole made a formal announcement of his candidacy via a press release.

“We’ve got to do some things differently. And it’s gonna take somebody from outside the political spectrum and come in and be able to change things,” said Cole in an interview with News Channel 5. “We are deeply embedded. Many people, if you go down and you see who’s supporting who, and you will see who’s bought who. So we need somebody from without to come and to fix that so that we can bring the government back to the people.”

Cole previously ran for State Senate in 2019 for District 32, but his bid was unsuccessful, losing to State Sen. Glen Womack (R-District 32).

“I believe that’s really an advantage because hard-working people are really wanting people that are going to represent them,” explained Cole. “We’re living in the toughest times in a long, long time, and people’s finances...everybody is hurting. We’ve gotta have answers, and we’re going to have to do things differently in this state.”

Despite a growing number of Republican candidates in the field, accompanied by big-money donors, Cole believes he can win in the October election with the backing of Democrats in the state.

In his announcement, Cole emphasized the state’s property insurance crisis. He said he chose to highlight that particular issue in his campaign announcement because it is the “single biggest issue period over the state.” Cole wants to create a cooperative with Gulf Coast states to attract insurers and keep them in the state.

“We keep doing the same things over again, and we’ve got to do things differently if we expect to have a different result,” said Cole.

Cole is based in Central Louisiana. He lives in Jena and pastors Eva United Pentecostal Church in Monterey. His day job, however, is as a special education teacher at Bolton High School, with 30 years in education. He has also coached many years in basketball, including two years at Menard High School.

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