Republican congressional candidate Larry Davis called for volunteers and financial support while outlining his campaign’s emphasis on conservative Christian values during a “Coming Home Rally” at the Suma Hall Community Center.
Davis, of Denham Springs, is seeking Louisiana’s 6th Congressional District seat. He has also attended several local government meetings in recent weeks.
Davis was joined at the rally by campaign volunteers and dozens of supporters. Among those attending were Livingston Parish Library Board of Control members Jonathan Davis, Trey Cowell, Dewanna Christian, and Kristan Whann.
A meal of white beans and rice, donated by Cowell, and chocolate chip cookies was served before the program.
Bobby Green, associate pastor of Salem Baptist Church, opened the event with an invocation and a reading from Romans 11:33. Green and other speakers emphasized Davis’s Christian faith and his campaign’s commitment to what they described as “traditional Christian beliefs.”
“Larry is running for Congress to bring you glory, God … not just to make his name known,” Green said during the invocation.
Cowell, pastor of Faith Baptist Church and a member of the Library Board of Control, then urged attendees to volunteer for the campaign.
“Normally, I give a call to action for Jesus, but I’m gonna do one for the campaign tonight,” Cowell said.
Cowell contrasted Davis’s campaign resources with those of better-funded candidates in the congressional race.
Other candidates have millions of dollars to spend, Cowell said, while Davis has “the people that are gonna put their boot straps on with him and go into the neighborhoods and make sure his message gets out.”
Cowell encouraged supporters to share Davis’s message, volunteer in neighborhoods, and place campaign signs in their yards.
“You ain’t gonna hear [Davis’s message] from any other politician, and we know that’s what Washington needs,” Cowell said. “We know that’s what our government needs.”
Cowell also promoted the campaign’s next fundraiser, an Aug. 18 barbecue sale in Denham Springs.
“We need that [funding],” Cowell said. “It takes a lot of resources to get his name out … and that’s what’s gonna march the campaign forward.”
Brian Gunter, pastor of Salem Baptist Church, later led the gathering in prayer and discussed his relationship with Davis. Gunter said he has been meeting with Davis weekly for Bible study.
“I have been discipling Larry over the past several months,” Gunter said. “Every Monday morning at 6:30 a.m., Larry and I have a standing meeting where we open the word of God together.”
Pastor Gunter went on to mention multiple topics, including what he described as the "overwhelming persecution" of Christians in America, his firm stance against abortion as a method of health care for at-risk or assaulted women, and his severe opinions on LGBTQ+ individuals.
Pastor Gunter then quoted Amos 5:15, which reads “hate evil, love good” as the basis for which he stated his hatred for many despicable acts, such as terrorism, murder, and child assault, all of which are sins of the highest degree. He then, however, went on to mention that members of the LGBTQ+ movement are responsible for the degradation of the “good” that Davis is trying to “protect” through his campaign, calling their movement “evil” and stating they are “obvious” in their attacks on the American traditional family.
Pastor Gunter also noted in his speech that he knows “some things” about the candidates running against Davis that he plans to “share later in this campaign sometime” in an effort to expose them for not following through with certain promises.
Larry Davis mirrored Pastor Gunter’s stances on LGBTQ+ individuals in his remarks, recalling a video of a transmasculine individual and stating, “it shouldn’t be on this earth in the first place,”
Davis also criticized the January inauguration of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the first Muslim to serve as the city’s mayor.
“Where was our leadership [to stop this from happening]?” Davis asked the crowd. “Where were the men and women who understood our history… we’ve become like Africa, China, Saudi Arabia, Mexico.”
“We have an opportunity with this election to rewrite the history of our country,” Davis said near the conclusion of his remarks. “Believe once more in America. Believe once more in the God that gave us 250 years.”
The event concluded with another appeal for supporters to volunteer, donate, attend fundraisers, display campaign signs, and share Davis’s message.
