Fake political texts, deception, and whisper campaigns—these aren’t just dirty tricks; they’re shaping Louisiana’s elections. Citizens for a New Louisiana’s exclusive investigation into the Senate 23 special election reveals a Republican Infighting battle fueled by the very tactics conservatives once condemned. Multiple sources confirm the operation and the time is running out for those involved to come clean before the dragnet is finally cinched shut.
By the way, the strategy behind these messages was to help candidate Jesse Regan win the election. The goal was to convince Lafayette’s predominantly Republican base that the other candidate, Brach Myers, was secretly a Democrat. However, this was not the only time it happened. Over several months, numerous text messages, purportedly from various Democratic Party-aligned groups, were sent to conservatives, encouraging them to vote for Myers. Why would Democrat groups send text messages promoting a candidate to Republican voters? It just doesn’t pass the smell test.
The first of these, issued in November of 2024, said it was from Cleo Fields and paid for Acadiana Progressive Community Outreach (an organization that does not exist). Since then, the tactic has been used against several other candidates with mixed results. Ashlie Myers Spiker was successfully elected as Iberia Parish Tax Assessor despite the effort. However, it was successfully employed against Cody Louviere, who lost his race for Youngsville Chief of Police by only fifteen votes. Then, they attacked Congressman Clay Higgins, rumored to be considering a race for the US Senate next winter.
In all of these cases, including a final (albeit unsuccessful) jab against Brach Myers, the parties who benefitted from such an effort appear to have overlapping political consultants.
My latest test for fake messages
That last message, supposedly from Lady Democrats of Acadiana, took me to its founder, Leslie Borque. Her number was in my contacts from when she participated in a small fundraiser we did for St. Jude. I was able to immediately reach her when the message lit up my network of local sentries. My earlier article, Penalty Flag: Fake Political Texts Raise Legal Questions in Senate 23, covers some of that conversation.
Both sides have told me that our social media response, announcing that the message was confirmed fake within a few hours, effectively blunted the effort to swing the election fraudulently. They reported that the fake message was undercut before it could go viral. To me, that’s a win for truth and transparency, even if you don’t like the election outcome.
The “Woke Right” emerges as Republican infighting.
Have you noticed that local politics has become increasingly intense lately? I attribute this to recent, late additions to the political landscape since the 2020 election cycle. That’s when various election interference schemes in other states stymied Donald Trump’s re-election bid. Upset self-identified Republican Trump supporters suddenly sought an outlet for their frustrations.
What started as an awakening of the silent majority has mutated into something else entirely. Instead of defending conservative values, some Republicans are mirroring the woke Left—weaponizing deception, character assassination, and a ‘win at any cost’ strategy. Over the last few years, you and I have witnessed the boisterous use of flagrant lies and misinformation to fool regular people and elected officials into voting a certain way. One astute political consultant said, “They do this because lazy voters will never check it. Instead, they’ll just ‘share share share’ anything compelling to their networks without a second thought.”
Are you seeing where this is going? Last fall, we brought in James Lindsay, who introduced our dinner event guests to the “Woke Right” concept infiltrating the Republican Party. The strategies mainly include ad hominem attacks, projection, or a combination with the outward appearance of Republican infighting. The intended victim gets labeled (think Bigot, Nazi, Homophobe – or Woke, Leftist, Democrat) and then the label gets attacked.
Back to our text messages.
So, we see the first message from November, saying:
Hi, this is Cleo Fields. Love Bingo? Love Democracy? Join me, Rep. Brach Meyers, and friends tomorrow, Monday, for a special Voter Appreciation BINGO! Win prizes while celebrating your right to vote! Drop by anytime between 11 AM-2 PM at the Downtown Convention Center (124 S. Buchanan St). Free entry! Bring your friends! Let’s make voting fun!
Paid for by Acadiana Progressive Community Outreach
That message didn’t go out to Democratic Party supporters of Cleo Fields in the district. It went out to conservative Republicans across the state. It was pretty effective in aligning Brach Myers with Cleo Fields. That was Tehmi Chassion’s event, but Chassion was never mentioned – an early sign that the message was fake.
But the damage was done. False messages don’t just disappear—they rewrite political reality. Months later, Brach Myers is still called ‘Bingo Brach,’ a nickname born from a lie, proving how quickly deception becomes ‘truth’ in politics. Cody Louviere lost by just fifteen votes—was the election outcome manipulated? And now they’re taking shots at Congressman Clay Higgins while he’s rumored to be considering a run for the U.S. Senate. Who will be next?
Building on fake messages’ past success.
That latest confirmed fake message, purportedly from the Lady Dems of Acadiana, reads as follows.
Hello! The Lady Democrats of Acadiana are proud to fully endorse and support Brach Myers for State Senate District 23! Brach has stood with us in our quest for progress, helping Democrats secure victory against Republican opposition Elbert Guillory. With a strong commitment to the City of Lafayette, Brach has been a steadfast supporter of Cleo Fields and the values we hold dear. Now, more than ever, we need strong progressive leadership in Baton Rouge – leaders who champion our values of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. That leader is Brach Myers! Join us in supporting Brach in the special election! Together, we can make Louisiana a place where every voice matters, and every community thrives.
This message was brought to you by The Lady Democrats of Acadiana
I mentioned earlier that the now-defunct group’s founder, Leslie Borque, confirmed the message was false. Also, this message seems to have created its own weather. One particularly vicious whisper campaign it sparked was one-on-one calls and text messages like this: “Did you know Brach was a Democrat until 2022?” Since I’ve kept a monthly snapshot of the voter rolls since 2020, that was easily verified as false.
Once again, Jesse Regan’s official campaign benefitted from an unofficial effort to “paint” Brach Myers as a Democrat. That concept is reinforced because his father, Keith Myers, and his father’s business, LHC Group, have been long-time financial supporters of Cleo Fields (and many other candidates, regardless of party). Try as I might, I have been unable to find a single donation made by Brach Myers to Cleo Fields. Nevertheless, he was painted as a “Cleo supporter,” and then the paint was repeatedly attacked. This is the kind of intellectual bankruptcy that inevitably conjures up things like demands for slavery reparations.
This false narrative fueled numerous whisper campaigns across the state, especially in the district, which injured Brach Myers’s reputation. Let’s be clear. Whether or not the Jesse Regan campaign was directly involved remains to be determined by law enforcement investigators. Regardless, it’s apparent that Regan’s campaign benefitted from knowingly false information directed at his opponent.
One last fake message.
Although an unsavory practice, parents, children, and those who appear to support a candidate are frequently highlighted in political campaigns. However, on the political spectrum, Myer’s votes on health freedom issues are the least aligned with the Liberty crowd. Those things are fair game. Why didn’t they spend time on these things instead of trying to trick you with knowingly false statements?
While doing my due diligence on yet another text message aimed at Brach Myers (that I have yet to release publicly), I found my contact list lacking. It was purportedly from United Ballot, whose founder is Chris Williams. His was one number I didn’t have. Leslie Bourque didn’t know who he was, so I had to make a few calls. Eventually, one of my contacts confirmed they could act as an intermediary. However, Williams is known for not answering messages quickly. And so, I waited until the middle of the next day before hearing back. Here’s what he said.
“If they’re going to spend money and use my name it would be nice if they would at least pick a candidate we would actually support!”
“Come on, man! Come on, man! Hell no I didn’t do that. Naw, man that’s fake. People are using United Ballot to make other candidates look bad.”
The fake message came to me through an unknowing but very concerned citizen who had received screenshots from a friend. The originator probably anticipated that I’d pounce on a message from United Ballot and share it across our socials. Ultimately, I chose not to release it because it didn’t reach my network of sentries or the networks of any influential Democrat I knew in the district. Why is this important?
“What’s wrong with you Republicans?”
When making follow-up calls on that last fake message, many Democratic operatives asked me some fairly pointed questions. “What’s wrong with you Republicans? When Democrats run against each other, we know we’ll have to work together again later. Republicans aren’t like that. They’ll cut you! They’ll cut another Republican even faster than they’ll cut a Democrat! What’s worse is the knife they use has ‘Democrat’ written on it! Man, we don’t do that junk!
“Trump and the GOP welcome Democrats like Tulsi Gabbard and RFK, Jr., but here in Louisiana, the Republican Party tears itself apart. Nationally, Democrats have gone off the rails, pushing radical policies most of us reject. But we can’t switch parties because Republicans are too busy destroying their own.”
Broadening the base in Louisiana.
It reminded me of something my pastor often says: “Most people don’t become Christians because they’ve met some bad Christians.” Whether or not the Jesse Regan campaign had anything to do with the fake text messages is irrelevant. It happened because people who call themselves “Republicans” did it on purpose. Maybe that’s why the fastest-growing political affiliation in Louisiana is the “no-party,” also known as an unaffiliated voter. Nearly one-third of the people who showed up to vote in the special election were in that “other party” category. While notably smaller than the Republican voter block, that group has become so large that it has outnumbered Democrat Party voters by 2:1.
This win-at-any-cost and burn-it-all-down approach isn’t broadening the base. It’s alienating voters who could be our allies. Thousands of voters didn’t just show up last Saturday—they sent a message. They rejected deception, rejected negative campaigning, and rejected the very tactics Republicans once condemned. If the GOP doesn’t course-correct, these tactics won’t just damage individual candidates. They’ll drive conservatives away from the party altogether.
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The DOGE Effect: What If We Cut Waste in Louisiana?
Elon Musk and Donald Trump are slashing waste in Washington, and the whole world is watching. Many have said, “That’s great—but we need to do the same thing in Louisiana!”
What most don’t realize is that Citizens for a New Louisiana has been ‘DOGE before DOGE was cool.’ Our investigatory work exposes government waste, backroom deals, and left-wing slush funds. And when people know what their government is really doing, it stops.
Want proof? Just change a few words:
👉 If you knew your government was funding erotic children’s books, they’d stop doing it.
👉 If you knew your government was sending millions to activist NGOs, they’d stop doing it.
We’ve covered transparency issues for almost seven years. No one else in Louisiana is looking this closely at where your tax dollars are going. Are you fed up with the hundreds of millions of dollars flowing from Louisiana's treasury into the pockets of NGOs and left-wing activists? If so, you’re not alone. But exposing it isn’t enough—we need your help to stop it.
If every reader contributed just $10 a year, we could double our reach. Your support now ensures Louisiana’s conservative future—don’t wait—contribute today!
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