“Duck Dynasty” Family Backs La. Candidate for Congress
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A & E(WASHINGTON) — Duck Dynasty’s Willie Robertson is sounding his duck call for a Congressional candidate.
The reality television celebrity has endorsed political outsider and Republican businessman Vance McAllister, who will be battling it out Dec. 9 in a special run-off election for a vacant seat in Louisiana’s 5th Congressional district where Robertson and his famous clan are residents.
Robertson, once rumored to be considering a run for the very same seat, appears in a campaign video (signature American flag bandanna and shaggy beard intact) reminding voters to “get out…and vote for my good buddy Vance McAllister. Let’s send somebody from the 5th District who speaks for us to help turn Washington around.”
The comparatively clean-shaven McAllister appears at the end of the video and says, “I’m not a politician, but I approve this message.” He has been promoting his outsider status from the beginning against state Sen. Neil Riser, his Republican opponent.
The strategy has worked so far, with McAllister beating 12 other candidates, including state lawmakers, mayors and a former congress member, in an Oct. 16 open primary where he garnered 18 percent of the vote. But Riser, who won 32 percent of the vote in the primary, will be stiff competition for the contested seat, which Rep. Rodney Alexander vacated this summer to take a position in Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration.
But McAllister’s campaign thinks the name-recognition of the Robertsons will help them cross the finish line first.
“I think it gives [McAllister] an added bit of bona fides,” McAllister adviser John Robinson told Roll Call, which posted the campaign video Thursday. “I heard some people say, ‘Oh, we’ve heard of Neil Riser, but we know the Robertsons are behind you.’”
Duck Dynasty follows the lives of the tight-knit duck call-making band of brothers and their families, and is the most watched cable reality television show in history, beating out one-time rating juggernauts like American Idol.
Airing on A&E, the show had a record-breaking fourth season premiere in August with 11.8 million viewers.
This isn’t Robertson’s first foray into political waters. While promoting his show — and squelching rumors of personal political ambitions on Fox News in August — Robertson revealed his candidate pick for 2016.
“I’m curious to know about Jindal,” Robertson said. “That’s my guy.”
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio