BATON ROUGE, La. — After much speculation, John Bel Edwards — a Democrat who defied near-universal predictions by being elected governor twice in the reliably red state of Louisiana — announced on Monday that he will not run for the U.S. Senate.

The announcement ended months of guessing whether the former governor would enter the 2026 race, hurting Democratic hopes of finding the right candidate to flip Louisiana's Republican seat, currently held by U.S. Sen Bill Cassidy. But in a post on the social platform X, Edwards said that after “careful consideration” he decided that “now is not the right time to re-enter public office.”

“After eight years in the Governor’s Office, and with two grandbabies at home, we’re committed to being the best Papa and Nonna we can be,” Edwards, 59, said abou

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