That Time Stormy Daniels Ran For Senate In Louisiana
Everyone is pretty aware that Louisiana politics have a dirty history. Corruption, assassination's, embezzlement, prison time...we all know at least one story.
But that's normal for Louisiana politics. The state has a long history of questionable activities in our electoral process. But perhaps the most interesting candidate story of all time has to do with an adult film star, who we all know now, that had a short run for a US Senate seat in Louisiana.
By the time the 2019 Gubernatorial election in Louisiana rolled around, everyone had learned who Stormy Daniels is. Her association to President Donald Trump is now well documented, and very public. But back in 2009, she was not as well known, and was looking at a possible political career.
Heading into the 2010 election cycle, US Senator from Louisiana David Vitter looked to be a vulnerable candidate, due to his connections to the "DC Madam scandal". Which led to speculation that he could be easily defeated for his Senate seat.
On May 21st of 2009 Daniels, who's legal name is Stephanie Clifford, filed the paperwork to form an exploratory committee to run for Senate in Louisiana. The reason she ran in Louisiana is because she's from Baton Rouge. By April of 2010, Daniels had officially become a Republican candidate, challenging David Vitter for his seat.
Daniels told CBS News that her political views were conservative, and that was pushing her to run for the Senate seat. She said:
"As I have said for well over a year, it is time that our government and our tax policy begin rewarding entrepreneurship and creativity again. It is time again to inspire positive risks and out-of-the-box thinking in the interest of growing a strong economy and a strong America."
She confirmed that she had been pushed out of the Democratic Party, and found most of her views fell in line with Libertarianism, which had found a home inside the Republican Party.
Daniels was so serious about her run, she embarked on a "listening tour" across the state, that made stops in the Shreveport area.
However, not long after Daniels political career started, some weird things happened. Including her campaign manager's car getting blown up in a car bombing. The campaign manager wasn't in the car at the time, but it shook up her campaign.
By April of 2010, Daniels had decided to fold her campaign, citing the mounting costs to challenge Vitter's campaign, and the lack of sincerity the media was giving to her campaign.
Of course a few years later we'd hear her name in political conversations again, but that was for a whole different reason.