Gov. Edwards responds after being asked about recall petition

BATON ROUGE, La. (KNOE) - Governor John Bel Edwards has commented on a recall petition aiming to remove him from office.

Edwards was asked about the petition at the end of his COVID-19 press conference on Thursday, in which he announced that Louisiana would be shifting into Phase 3 of reopening.

“There’s a recall petition circulating?” he asked, before smiling. He then said, “There are a lot of things that keep me up at night. That’s not one of them.”

The petition was started by two people from Eunice, Louisiana, according to the Associated Press.

To move forward with a recall election for a statewide office, the petition will need the support of hundreds of thousands of people. 20% of eligible Louisiana voters will have to sign the petition by hand. That amounts to roughly 600,000 signatures since Louisiana has over 3 million registered voters. They have 180 days from Aug. 31 to collect the signatures.

1,343,481 votes were cast during the primary election in October 2019. 1,508,784 votes were cast in the November runoff, with Edwards, a Democrat, beating Republican Eddie Rispone by approximately 40,000 votes.

Edwards' current term ends in 2024. This is his second term, so he will not be eligible to run again.

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