La. Treasurer John Fleming on U.S. Senate run, insurance reform, state pension funds, and school choice

Yahoo

29-05-2025

SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – Louisiana State Treasurer John Fleming announced his run for the U.S. Senate against Senator Bill Cassidy in 2026.
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Fleming says Senator Cassidy has a moderate, somewhat liberal voting record despite being a Republican for a conservative state.
'I, on the other hand, after eight years in Congress, with a strong conservative voting record, and also a founder of the House Freedom Caucus, moved on into the Trump administration, where I served four years, culminating in the last year, as Deputy Chief of Staff. My official title was Assistant to the President for Planning and Implementation,' said La. Treasurer Fleming.
Fleming says President Trump deserved a second tour of the White House and has seen great things come out of it, like the 'Big Beautiful Reconciliation Bill.' Fleming adds that Senator Cassidy voted to convict the president in the second impeachment trial.
The state treasurer also spoke on his disapproval of Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry.
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'He appears to be restraining some of the very, very good liability insurance reform bills that are going to be necessary to get our insurance rates down. There's no way to do that unless we reduce the number of frivolous suits, which Louisiana has twice as many as any other state,' said Fleming.
Fleming says he is also concerned about a bill that the governor supports. The bill would turn the Insurance Commissioner, Tim Temple, into an 'insurance czar' who can fix prices.
'What we really should be doing is allowing the free market to work. But that requires certain restraints and regulations to be sure that people who are injured in car accidents and their car is affected and harmed in some way, can be properly compensated, but not like a lottery system where you can make a lot of money at it,' said Fleming.
The state treasurer feels as though the legislature is being restrained and wishes the 2025 fiscal session could be extended to pass more bills.
Moving to state pension funds that provide retirement benefits, Fleming says research shows a number of funds are invested in Chinese companies. He says China has now become an adversary, and they do not follow the same bookkeeping or accounting rules as the United States.
'The U.S. is about to take off when it comes to our economy, with the passage of the Big Beautiful Reconciliation Bill that's going to extend the tax cuts and create new tax cuts, also the balance of trade that we're getting too under President Trump. So, we need to onshore our industrial base back again,' said Fleming.
He says he has urged for a divestment in Chinese companies and investment in the United States.
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On the topic of education, Fleming spoke of the K-12 Public School and Charter School Transparency project.
The project is a user-friendly, searchable website to help parents and families choose a school for their students, so they are not trapped in underperforming schools. The project highlights funding per pupil and expenses, performance in ELA and math, graduation rate, school grades, contracts and vendors, etc.
'Schools are just like businesses in some way, some are more competitive, some less competitive, what we really want is to make good schools better, and those that maybe are lagging and not giving good performance, and not efficient, we want to focus on those so we can help them, and get them to be more efficient, and certainty rule out any wasteful spending,' said Fleming.
The state treasurer says transparency in government is always a good thing.
'When the people know where their tax money is being spent, they can hold accountable the schools, the administrators, you know, their elected officials, who put that power of spending in their hands, only good can come of that,' said Fleming.
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