I suppose that the only good strategy that year was to put Edwards in office and then immediately open grounds for his removal.
Still have never looked much at the primary or how a “former” Democrat/Independent/Klansman got the GOP nomination.
Even recently he tweeted that one of the Squad was his favorite congressperson because of her antisemitism.
Because in Louisiana, there are no party primaries. Whomever makes the top-two slots for a given office (state or federal) goes to a “general” runoff. By that reckoning, you can claim any party label you wish. Prior to the 1991 race, the GHW Bush White House had persuaded squishy pro-abort semi-liberal Democrat Gov. Buddy Roemer to switch to the GOP. This was done to head off freshman State Rep. David Duke from ostensibly becoming the de facto leading Republican to run for Governor.
However, Roemer was not very popular with state voters or the Republican base. He ended up placing 3rd in the all-party primary with 27% to Duke’s 32% (Edwards got 34%). By all accounts, the GOP would’ve won the general runoff, since 64% had voted for GOP candidates, but because it was David Duke going to the runoff, it forced the entire GOP establishment from the White House on down to endorse the Democrat Edwards, who won 61-39%.