By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor
LAFAYETTE, La. (LBM) — State Rep. Julie Emerson, a member with First Baptist Church, Lafayette, has announced her candidacy for U.S. Senate.
“I’m running for the United States Senate because Louisiana deserves a senator who can lead, deliver, and help rebuild America’s confidence,” Emerson said in a news release that announced her candidacy, Oct. 27. “For the first time in years, the future feels brighter than the past.”
Emerson will challenge Bill Cassidy, who she said is “the most vulnerable incumbent in the Senate” after he voted to convict President Donald Trump on impeachment charges.
“Voters want a strong conservative senator who can get things done — someone focused on results, not rhetoric,” Emerson said. “I’m running to bring home real outcomes for Louisiana: infrastructure investment, new jobs and a seat at the table where decisions get made.”
Emerson, R-Carencro, serves as the chair of the House Committee on Ways and Means, and was the first woman to chair a finance committee in the state’s legislative history. Moreover, she has sponsored consequential legislation, including bills to cut state income taxes, provide school choice and to end abortion. Importantly, she is a woman of faith and openly discussed the importance of her spiritual life in an exclusive interview with the Baptist Message.
FAITH
Emerson said that she only entered the race after seeking God’s will and experiencing a series of affirmations from the Lord, some just days before she announced her decision.
“I spent a tremendous amount of time in prayer, because this is a huge decision,” Emerson disclosed. “Certainly, going from the statehouse to run for the U.S. Senate is a really, really big step. But you know, God has always sent people into my life and answered prayers for those people to really speak into my life.
“I kept getting affirmations that I should do this, and then, over the course of three days I sensed God confirmed for me, twice, that I was to take this step of faith,” she continued. “You know, God doesn’t promise that we’re going to be victorious. He doesn’t promise that we’re going to get what we want, but I felt like it was the right step for me to get in the race.”
FAMILY
Emerson told the Baptist Message that her journey to this point in her life has been shaped by her faith.
“I was born in north Louisiana, the Bible Belt of Louisiana, and grew up in the Baptist church. I had amazing parents, and they brought me up in the Word,” Emerson said in describing her childhood. “Then when I was eight years old [and living in the Lafayette area], I remember listening to my pastor talk about how your parents’ faith can’t save you.
“When you grow up in the church, and you hear stuff like that, you tend to think, ‘Well, I love the Lord. I’ve always been in church. I’ve always been in Sunday school.’” she shared. “But that morning it just really hit me — I thought, ‘I’ve always known about God and I’ve known about Jesus my whole life, but I have to make that personal decision.’ And so, I did. I made that personal decision when I was eight years old.”
FRIENDS
Emerson praised the “so many amazing people in my life who helped strengthen me,” including her home congregation of First Baptist Church, Lafayette, mentioning by name her pastors there (Perry Sanders (deceased), Steve Horn, now the current executive director of the Louisiana Baptist Convention, and James Pritchard, currently serving) and describing them as “awesome” leaders.
She also mentioned “the people that I’m around” in the legislature — people of faith “who have uplifted me.”
Emerson cited the example of Representative Philip Devillier, who was her seatmate [desks in the Louisiana House chamber are arranged in pairs] during her freshman year in the legislature, about 10 years ago.
“We were just randomly assigned to each other, and he is just a very, very strong man of faith,” she said. “He goes to a Catholic church, and I go to the Baptist church, but we serve the same Lord. And he’s been very encouraging to me in my faith walk as well.”
Devillier is now the state Speaker of the House.
“I’ve really been blessed that God has put so many amazing people in my path to keep me on the straight and narrow,” she said. “Hopefully, I’ve been able to speak into their lives as well.
In between her childhood and her time in the legislature, Emerson said her adventures in missions strongly shaped her faith, too.
While she was a student in a Christian school system, she said, “we did mission trips and stuff on spring break and things like that.” Then, in college, she completed some summer assignments in Alaska with the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.
“I had not ever thought about going there, but I had a tremendous time,” she offered. “I really grew in my faith, while leading high school young ladies in Bible studies and Sunday school lessons. Also, I learned to be unashamed of the Gospel and of sharing it with others. I would say that my time in Alaska was a really defining moment for me in terms of learning to live out my faith proudly.
FUTURE
Emerson’s primary goal, if elected to the Senate, would be to champion better stewardship of taxpayers’ dollars.
“I really feel like in Louisiana and in the U.S. right now, we’re headed in a much better direction for brighter days and a brighter future,” she said. “Just from a policy standpoint, I would offer the same leadership in D.C. as I have in Baton Rouge during my time as chair of the state’s House Ways and Means Committee and my work on cutting taxes and keeping our books balanced.
“You know, in the state we are required to balance the budget. Unfortunately, they’re not required to do that in Washington,” she clarified. “We can’t continue to operate in deficits and just pile up debt – that’s an injustice to our taxpayers and imperils the future of our country. So, I would very much like to get involved in fiscal policy matters at that level and see what we can do to get that ship of state on a better track.”
FOREMOST
In closing out the interview, Emerson told the Baptist Message that whatever the outcome of the campaign she wants to live so that people see that she is led by her faith.
“God is always going to be a part of our government as long as we send Christians there, and that is going to be a guiding light for me,” she said. “Frankly, the choices that are made affect a lot of people and we really need to be in constant prayer.
For herself, Emerson asked Louisiana Baptists to pray for calmness as she runs her campaign and His reassurance as she follows His path.
“You have to run your own race with endurance and that’s what I pray for, focus and peace, and to just do the Lord’s will,” she said. “At the end of the day, we get in these things because we want to win. But sometimes God has other plans or other purposes for you being in certain places at certain times.
“I certainly would not have gotten in this race if I didn’t feel like there was a very clear path to victory for me, and I do believe there is,” she added. “But, you know, whatever God’s will for me is, that’s what I want to do. I’m supposed to be in this, and I’m in it, and so now I just trust the Lord to send me wherever He would want me to go.”
LAGNIAPPE
Emerson is a graduate of Westminster Christian Academy in Opelousas, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (Bachelor of Science) and the University of South Carolina (Master of Business Administration). She is a leader in the state (10 years in the legislature), the local community (small business owner, Lagniappe Communications Group) and her faith community (13 years as a trustee overseeing Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky).
She joins a field of announced candidates that includes state Treasurer John Fleming, state Sen. Blake Miguez, Public Service Commissioner Eric Skrmetta and St. Tammany Parish Councilwoman Kathy Seiden.
