Adrian Perkins for Senate: Does He Have a Chance?

Dr. Pearson Cross, Professor of Political Science at University of Louisiana Lafayette, talks about the announcement that Shreveport Mayor Adrian Perkins will run for the United States Senate seat currently held by Dr. Bill Cassidy.

Perkins made the announcement about his run for the Cassidy seat Wednesday morning via Twitter, his Facebook page and his new Perkins for Senate website:

"I’m running for the United States Senate because our country and Louisiana are at a crossroads. Washington’s political games are making us sick. My experience is different than most politicians, and it’s time to take a new road. I hope you will join me, we can get there together."

"You have to applaud someone who's putting himself out there for statewide office," says Pearson, commenting on the news of the Perkins run, "But my thought is that it's just a little bit ambitious and it also had me thinking, what other offices is he setting himself for, for reelection, for a future run for governor or another of those things. He's a novice in politics and he's running in an environment that would be very different from Shreveport. Shreveport's 57% Black, the state itself is 32% Black. This isn't all about race, but it's partly about race. African-Americans do really well running for mayor, but making that jump to statewide office has been a bit problematic for a Black politician."