State Rep. Jonathan Perry says his poll, commissioned by his campaign and conducted among 300 likely voters by Teddlie Media, shows him with a lead over Nathan Granger.
State Rep. Jonathan Perry
State Rep. Jonathan Perry is challenging the poll commissioned by his sole opponent in the Feb. 19 special election for the state Senate District 26 seat vacated in December by Nick Gautreaux. That poll, by businessman and Vermilion Parish Police Juror Nathan Granger, shows Granger ahead by an astounding 20 points among likely voters in the district, which covers about half of Vermilion Parish, nearly a quarter of Acadia and Lafayette parishes and just under 10 percent of St. Landry.
Perry says his poll, commissioned by his campaign and conducted among 300 likely voters by Teddlie Media, shows him with a nine-point lead over Granger - 40-31 percent. Moreover, Perry, a Republican first-term rep, questions the validity of Granger's poll, which was conducted among 400 likely voters by Lauer Johnson Research, a Democratic firm, and shows the Democrat with a 49-29 percent lead over Perry.
Nathan Granger
Specifically, Perry questions the timing of a correction issued by Louisiana politics columnist John Maginnis about Granger's poll: "John Maginnis did his political weekly and in it, the one that he sent out, the Democratic Party actually admitted that Perry has the lead but they're closing the gap," Perry says, speaking abou himself in the third person. "And less than an hour later Maginnis issues a correction - and I can tell you I've been following Maginnis for a very long time and I don't remember the last time I saw that - saying that this poll had been released and they were up by 20 points. So, my consultant emailed John Maginnis asking if he saw the poll. John Maginnis said, No, I just went by what they told me.' Now come on."
Read more about the Senate District 29 race in Wednesday's issue of The Independent Weekly.