Incumbent Republican Barbara Freiberg projected to win House, 70th District

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - State Representative Barbara Freiberg (R) is the projected winner in her re-election in the House of Representatives, said WAFB political analyst Jim Engster.

CLICK HERE FOR WAFB’S INTERACTIVE ELECTION MAP

Freiberg says she’s running as a somewhat moderate Republican while her Democrat opponent, Steve Myers, says he’s a conservative.

“This makes it one of the most interesting races in the state actually,” said Myers on Monday.

Myers has run for other positions in the past like mayor and judge, only he ran in those races as a Republican. This time, he says he’s switching parties as part of his strategy.

“The labels mean absolutely nothing. It doesn’t change who I am or what I believe. I said the demographics were very good as a chance to make the runoff as a Democrat and so I simply switched parties and ran as a Democrat,” Myers explained.

In his view, he’s more conservative than the incumbent, Republican Barbara Freiberg. Claiming he’s a pro-life, pro 2nd amendment, pro-school choice type of conservative. Adding that Freiberg has served her first term in office as a left-leaning Republican when it comes to how she votes on police and education-related legislation.

“So, we basically have a race that I call a DINO vs. RINO, a Republican in name only vs. a Democrat,” Myers added.

Speaking with Freiberg on Monday, she says for anyone who thinks she’s not a true conservative, all they need to do is go look at her record. And says when it comes to Myers, she says she wished he would be honest with voters.

“All the voters, be it Republican or Democrat, will look at my record of leadership, will look at my record of commitment to this community, dedication and tireless work for our community and state. I can’t get too involved in what Mr. Myers is doing,” said Frieberg.

“We need to look beyond these labels and look at what people stand for and what they vote for when you’re an incumbent and what they say they’ll vote for when you’re a challenger like myself,” Myers explained.

Freiberg says if she were to be re-elected, she would aim to finish the work she started at the legislature to find a way to have universal early childhood education. Election day is on Saturday, November 18.

Click here to report a typo.