Scott Hughes: Can Taliaferro Win? Can Perkins Lose?

Political analyst Scott Hughes talks about the early announcements of mayoral candidates Jim Taliaferro and incumbent Adrian Perkins and who else may get into the race.

Hughes comments come on the heels of the recent announcements of current Mayor Adrian Perkins and Caddo Commissioner Jim Taliaferro that they are candidates for the city's highest office.

"The election is two years away, so it's kind of shocking to see someone step out so early," Hughes says, referring to the Taliaferro announcement. "I think it's more in response to the Mayor...saying he was going to seek reelection and so we have a unique situation where we have two major candidates announced almost two years out from the election.

I think both are more concerned about clearing the field and trying to establish their lane and the election is so far away that the dynamics are hard to predict at this point."

Then Hughes examines the Taliferro strategy of such an early announcement. "It's a 100% Republican Party move," he says, "He wants to get out early, he wants to put people on the spot, he wants the endorsements of Republicans and he's seeking to be the Republican in the race.

"If a Republican is going to have a chance to be Mayor of Shreveport, they're going to need to be the only Republican in the race and you can't split the party."

And what of the Mayor's reelection chances? "Adrian Perkins will be on the ballot, maybe. It's two years away." Hughes says, "He's not very popular by all the polls and measures that we look at right now. (But) there is no penalty for Perkins announcing that he's running for reelection, there's a huge penalty if people think he's not."