Gubernatorial candidate Shawn Wilson visits with Black preachers, leaders in Monroe

A day after qualifying for the Oct. 16 election, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Shawn Wilson made a pit stop in Northeast Louisiana while campaigning.

The former Transportation Secretary met with Black preachers and community leaders Wednesday at the True Vine Baptist Church in Monroe to discuss his campaign platform.

Wilson discussed issues currently plaguing the state, including the economy, public safety and education.

"In 2025, if you're grandson can't read on a third grade-level, guess what? He's going to be held back," Wilson said. "By state law, he has to be held back. They have yet to say what it's going to cost to remediate and help that third grader two years from now. What ought to been done is we should have been educating kindergartens and first graders, and supporting them today. Take some of that $2 billion surplus and start making sure that those first graders can read on a second grade level and those second graders can read on a third grade level, and you don't have anybody being held back. But that's the kind of shenanigans that we play."

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Wilson touted his background as Transportation Secretary and how he boosted economic opportunities for women and minority-owned businesses.

"When I became Secretary, we had a budget of $1.4 billion," Wilson said. "Of that $1.4 billion, eight percent or less than eight percent was used and dedicated to minority-owned and women-owned businesses. Fast forward seven years, when I left, the budget that was 1.4 was not $3.4 billion. The seven percent DBE goal was no longer seven percent that we didn't achieve, it was 15.9 that we achieved and had set at 16 percent, which means the pie got bigger and the slice of pie that minority and women-owned businesses got, got bigger. That's how you create economic opportunities. That's how you start to build wealth in communities because that's how you break the cycle of poverty."

Wilson said the fact that the state has not elected a person of color as governor since Reconstruction is alarming, referencing the appointment of Oscar Dunn to the governorship in 1871.

"The fact that it happened in Virginia with Governor [Douglas] Wilder in 1990," Wilson said. "It happened with Deval Patrick, I think in 2002 in Massachusetts. It happened with Wes Moore in 2023. It's been 25 years since you've had a candidate that looked like me with the appeal and the capacity to win, and the ability to raise money, and we've raised $1.2-1.3 million since March. That's more than what John Bel raised when he was running and he had been running for a year and a half. We've got over 1,400 individual donors, those are everyday people giving $5, $10, $15, $100. That is what it's going to take to give us the grassroot momentum to win this race but we have to believe it's doable."

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This article originally appeared on Monroe News-Star: Shawn Wilson visits Black preachers, leaders in Monroe