Consultant: Civil discourse needed as campaign unfolds

As the United States moves forward in uncharted presidential political waters, the nation needs to strive for unity and civil discourse, a longtime lobbyist familiar with Washington, D.C. politics said Monday.

“United we stand, divided we fall. Are we on that precipice right now, I’m not sure,” consultant John Kyte, of Ruston, said.

Kyte, an attorney who’s also a former journalist, said he thinks President Joe Biden’s decision to end his bid for second term was the right decision.

Biden, 81, pulled out of the race Sunday under mounting pressure to withdraw after his poor debate performance against GOP nominee former President Donald Trump in June and increasing questions about his health.

Biden’s decision to pull out plunged the presidential election into further unfamiliar territory, with Trump allies immediately launching ads in battleground accusing Vice President Kamala Harris of covering up “Joe Biden’s obvious mental decline,” and pushed the Democratic party into high gear to figure out what to do next.

Kyte said the country needs to “tone down on the extreme left and extreme right rhetoric.”

Meantime, Louisiana Democratic National Convention delegate Richard Anderson, of Ruston, said he’s backing Harris as the party’s nomiee.

“My intention is to go to Chicago and support Harris,” Anderson said Sunday, just hours after Biden announced he was dropping his reelection bid.

Harris has since won the endorsement of most of Louisiana’s 53 convention delegates.

The DNC meets Aug. 19-22 to pick Biden’s replacement.

But just because Harris has picked up endorsements from top- name Democrats and political active organizations doesn’t mean she has a lock on the nomination.

“Things are going to get worked out, and they’re going to get worked out very quickly because the stakes are too high not to,” Kyte predicted.

Reaction to the president’s decision was predictably partisan, with Democrats praising Biden’s presidency and Republicans saying his exit was overdue.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, from Louisiana, said Biden should resign.

“If Joe Biden is not fit to run for president, he is not fit to serve as president. He must resign the office immediately,” Johnson said in a statement.

“At this unprecedented juncture in American history, we must be clear about what just happened. The Democrat Party forced the Democrat nominee off the ballot, just over 100 days before the election,” Johnson said.

“Having invalidated the votes of more than 14 million Americans who selected Joe Biden to be the Democrat nominee for president, the selfproclaimed ‘party of democracy’ has proven exactly the opposite.”

Johnson called Harris “a completely inept border czar” who he said has been a “gleeful accomplice” in what he alleges was a cover up about Biden’s ability to serve.

“She has known for as long as anyone of his incapacity to serve,” Johnson’s statement said.

U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said Biden’s decision was long overdue, while House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, of New Orleans, also said Democrats have been covering up the president’s fitness.

Lincoln Parish Democratic Party Executive Committee Chairman Lawrence Higginbotham said he’s saddened by Biden’s departure from the race.

“I think he’s been a good president, but I understand there are health issues involved,” he said.

“I know he wants it. I know he wants to stay in there. I know it was a hard decision to make,” Higginbotham said.

But he said he respects Biden’s decision. Higginbotham said he thinks Harris has a good chance in the race against Trump.

DNC delegate Anderson said Biden has had a “wonderful” career. Anderson said he met Biden at the 2008 and 20216 national conventions.

“He’s a down-to-earth good fellow, a good ole regular Joe,” Anderson said.