Down-in-the-polls Democrat Sen.
Mary Landrieu is trash-talking her colleague, Sen. Maria Cantwell, even as the Washington state lawmaker is trying to raise money for the desperate Louisiana incumbent.
Cantwell’s fundraising email appeal touted Landrieu as "a critical ally over the years… an ally I’m counting on in the years to come," and asked for $5 or more to raise $100,000 for the race by midnight, "to keep a strong, fighting Democrat in the U.S. Senate,"
Bloomberg News reports.
About the same time, Landrieu was taking a few swipes at Cantwell at a rally in Baton Rouge, calling her a "woman who I like very much," as she bashed Cantwell's windmills-and-alternative-energy priorities, Bloomberg reports.
At the campaign stop, Landrieu warned if she's not sent back to Washington, Cantwell would become the ranking Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
— and that would not be a good thing for oil-and-gas-loving Louisiana.
"If I don’t get back there as a senior member of the committee, we’re gonna have a woman who I like very much, [but] I’m not sure Louisiana’s going to think very much of a senator from Washington state who’s all for windmills and alternative energy, and doesn’t support the oil and gas industry," Landrieu said, Bloomberg news reports. "That’s who’s gonna take my place as head of this committee."
Landrieu chairs the energy committee, where she's clashed with fellow Democrats, including Cantwell, on fossil fuel issues in general and the Keystone XL Pipeline in particular,
The Seattle Times reports.
Others have sounded the same warning about Cantwell, the Times notes, including West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, who said in October that energy-producing states would be left "absolutely dead" if Cantwell replaced Landrieu.
But either way, pro-oil Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski will chair the energy panel in the next Congress thanks to the midterm election wave that gave Republicans the majority in both the Senate and House,
Politico points out.
Polls show Landrieu lagging by double digits to her Republican challenger, Rep. Bill Cassidy, ahead of Saturday's runoff.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.