Patrick Forbes

Patrick Forbes earned a bachelor's degree and a graduate degree from Louisiana State University in 1984 and 1995, respectively.[1]

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I'm an engineer and public servant with 20 years of experience working with people across the state to rebuild their lives and communities after disasters. I led the Louisiana Office of Community Development for 13 years, joining Governor John Bel Edwards in DC to bring back nearly $3 billion to help Louisiana recover stronger after the Floods of 2016. This work required working with people of every political stripe at every level of government to understand the needs of recovering communities and to get the resources to address them.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

We need to end the war and the tariffs to bring prices down for everyone. The pointless war in Iran and the farm killing tariffs are raising the prices of gas, diesel and everything else for everyday Americans, and Congress is sitting on their hands. Congress has a constitutional role to fulfill and they're not doing it.The system is rigged against working people. The tax bill that Congress and the President passed last year gave huge tax breaks to billionaires while the rest of us are left with trillions more in national debt to pay off. But that's not all. It also cut funding for healthcare and SNAP benefits, leaving millions of working families without health insurance and millions more, mostly children, without enough to eat. And cutting Medicaid subsidies doesn't just harm those working families. Rural hospitals are already struggling to stay open, and this will certainly be the last straw for many of them. This bill represents a huge transfer of wealth to the richest among us at the expense of the rest of us and must be repealed.Corruption is rampant in DC and it must be reigned in. That's a job for Congress. We need laws to prevent public officials, including members of Congress, from making money off their positions. People expect us as public servants to actually serve the country, not to profit from our positions and decisions.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

The system is rigged against working people. We must take every step, including legislation, to reverse this cancer on our country. It is dividing us in so many ways and wasting the brains and talents of so many of our citizens. We have to level the playing field.

I believe protecting and preserving the environment is a moral and practical imperative. Dirty air and water kill people. We can have clean air and water without hurting businesses. They are not mutually exclusive.

We must invest in our infrastructure to prosper. We must repair our roads and bridges and build the infrastructure and nature-based solutions that will protect us from future storms.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

I have been endorsed by Governor John Bel Edwards, Senator Mary Landrieu and Mayor Mitch Landrieu.