BATON ROUGE - Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry has opened up a sizable lead in at least one aspect of the 2023 race for governor -- campaign cash.

Campaign finance reports filed on Wednesday show Landry -- who has the backing of the state GOP apparatus -- has $5 million in available funds. That includes more than $3 million that the campaign had on hand from the prior reporting cycle, along with newly added funds.

Landry's closest rival in spendable cash is Louisiana Treasurer John Schroder, with about $2.4 million. Of that amount, $2 million carried over from the previous cycle.

Republican State Senator Sharon Hewitt reported $617,875 in her account and Republican State Rep. Richard Nelson shows a balance of $197,347.

Lake Charles attorney Hunter Lundy is waging an independent campaign built on a platform of "faith, family and freedom." His filing reported $1.6 million in funds on hand. Most of that comes from a loan Lundy made to his political endeavor.

There are no major declared candidates from the Democratic Party as of yet, though DOTD Secretary Shawn Wilson is expected to enter the race following his recently announced retirement.

Current Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, cannot seek reelection due to term limits.

If no single candidate receives more than half of the vote in the October general election, the top two vote recipients would meet again in a runoff.

The figures cited in this report reflect only those directly associated with a candidate. Political Action Committees (PACs) can additionally spend on behalf of candidates but can not coordinate that effort with them.