Dr. Shawn Wilson, a major Democrat running for Louisiana governor, has a strong record as secretary of the state Department of Transportation and Development. The Gov. John Bel Edwards Administration under Wilson’s supervision has completed more road and bridge work over the last seven years with less money than previous administrations.

Area legislators aren’t happy about the prospects of paying tolls on a new Interstate 10 bridge over the Calcasieu River here, but the project has advanced quickly in recent months. And there is $800 million and more coming to help pay for much of the expected $2.1 billion cost.

Highway projects have been completed in many areas of the state and three of them are familiar to motorists in this area. A section of  I-10 near the industrial plants in West Calcasieu Parish that has been in bad shape for too many years is now in great shape.

Motorists traveling on I-10 to Baton Rouge know that the section from Lafayette to the Atchafalaya Spillway is another major improvement. And work is underway on the widening of I-10 on the Louisiana-Texas border.

Candidates are qualifying this week and voters will be hearing much more from each of them between now and the Oct. 14 primary. Wilson, like some of the announced Republican candidates, doesn’t enjoy the name recognition he needs to win but that will change for all of them.

Republican state Attorney General Jeff Landry, who never misses an opportunity to generate both good and bad news, has name recognition and over $9 million in the bank to pay for more. However, he also has some high negatives and many voters are looking for someone else.

Landry has avoided appearing with other candidates on the campaign trail. But The Advocate in a profile of Wilson said the other four Republican candidates are expected “to begin blasting” Landry after qualifying ends Thursday.

For those who don’t know him, Wilson has an impressive resume. He received his bachelor’s degree in urban and regional planning from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, his current hometown. He has both master’s and Ph.D. degrees in public administration from Southern University.

Wilson and Rocki, his wife of 27 years, have two children, one son-in-law, and two grandchildren.

Wilson, 54, became secretary of DOTD in 2016 and resigned in February this year to run for governor. Anyone who wants to know how well-versed he is in infrastructure — roads, bridges, ports, airports, and pipelines — will find loads of information in a 47-minute podcast he did on Feb. 17, 2021, for Ellevate Louisiana.

The failure of the state Legislature to increase the state’s 20.9-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax in 2017 was a major mistake, he said. More than four cents of that is paying off the TIMED program that four laned state highways. He said the other 16 cents is worth only 7 cents in today’s dollars.

The Advocate said Wilson likes to say that no other candidate for governor can match his experience. However, the newspaper asked, “But will any of that matter? Or is it simply more important that he is a Black Democrat in a Republican-dominated state that hasn’t elected a Black candidate to statewide office in 150 years.”

If he’s the only major Democrat in the race, Wilson has a good chance to make the runoff. He had a good answer when his race was mentioned.

“There will always be folks who have extreme prohibitions when it comes to race,” Wilson said. “I get that. The reality is, at what point do we rise to a level of civility and citizenship and not limit ourselves based on something as deep as my skin tone to dictate our future?”

The newspaper said Wilson, on the campaign trail, displays an ability to connect with voters not found in many government bureaucrats. However, it added that in order to win Wilson would need to receive at least 30% of the White vote and at least 95% of the state’s 30% Black vote.

Wilson wants to raise the minimum wage, support equal pay for women, pay teachers more, and extend the 0.45 state sales tax increase passed in 2018 that is scheduled to go off the books in 2025. He said he is personally opposed to abortion but supports a woman’s right to have an abortion.

Although Wilson’s road to victory is paved with some roadblocks, he has a record of accomplishments as a public servant, an enviable educational background, and a goal to “build bridges and not burn them.”