Only political insiders knew his name, but Verne Kennedy played a significant role for decades in deciding who would be elected governor of Louisiana.
Kennedy was a pollster whose survey results helped candidates craft messages for voters. Former governors Edwin Edwards and David Treen were among his clients.
Kennedy’s data also helped business owners decide who to bet their money on.
Kennedy earned a reputation for accuracy because he relied on the numbers and historical trends, not on hunches.
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Kennedy, 83, died on Feb. 28 in Gulf Breeze, Florida. He had two children and was married to his wife Martha for 61 years.
Kennedy grew up at Jackson Barracks in New Orleans — his mother’s father Raymond Fleming was the adjutant general of the Louisiana National Guard for 28 years — and went on to obtain a Ph.D. from LSU.
After serving as a college professor and for eight years as president of Belhaven College in Jackson, Mississippi, Kennedy devoted himself full time to his company, Market Research Insight. The company would go on to conduct over 5,000 marketing and political surveys in all 50 states.
Besides working for candidates, Kennedy did polling for a group of about 20 business owners for Louisiana governor’s races from 1995 through 2023.
“We wanted to pick someone who wasn’t in Louisiana or was tied to any candidate and did good research,” said Randy Haynie, a veteran lobbyist in Baton Rouge who was a member of the group that hired Kennedy. “We trusted Verne. He gave us the numbers straight up.”
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John Georges, who owns The Advocate | The Times-Picayune, was the organizer of the group for many years.
“He was about the science and not the art of politics,” Georges said.
Kennedy didn’t just poll on governor’s races in Louisiana. In Jefferson Parish, for example, he did surveys for such candidates as former Sheriff Newell Normand and former assessor Lawrence Chehardy, said Bob d’Hemecourt, a veteran political operative.
In 2022, Kennedy was inducted into the Louisiana Political Hall of Fame.
In 2023, Kennedy told the business group that his data showed something that few were predicting: then-Attorney General Jeff Landry had a shot at being elected governor outright in the primary. And that’s what happened.
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The business group always offered to have Kennedy explain his findings to the different campaigns in race, although not all of the candidates liked what they heard.
That was especially true during the 2015 governor’s race.
Kennedy’s first poll in May that year showed then-U.S. Sen. David Vitter, the Republican who was the heavy favorite, leading with 36% of the vote, with John Bel Edwards, a little-known Democratic state representative, running second with 27%.
But because African-American voters typically gave 90% of their vote to the Democratic candidate, Kennedy redistributed the numbers by giving 90% of the undecided Black voters to Edwards. That gave him 35%, and as news of Kennedy’s survey spread, Edwards suddenly gained credibility as a candidate among the political class.
In July, after Kennedy re-allocated 90% of the African-American vote to Edwards, his numbers showed the Democrat leading with 34%, while Vitter and then-Public Service Commissioner Scott Angelle, a Republican, both had 21%. Given that virtually all voters knew Vitter from his years in public office, Kennedy deduced that Vitter had little room to grow.
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Kennedy advised Vitter’s campaign manager, Kyle Ruckert, that Vitter ought to seriously consider not even qualifying for the fall election. Instead, Ruckert went into damage control mode and publicly blasted Kennedy, saying he had engaged in “fantasy land polling.”
The pollster threatened to sue Vitter for libel. He didn’t follow through on that because he ended up getting the last laugh.
Edwards soundly defeated Vitter in the runoff election, 56% to 44%.
Louisiana pastor Tony Spell must stay 50 yards from his neighbor’s home unless he’s checking the mail after a protection order was issued against him – as shocking bodycam appears to show him using a homophobic slur to describe his alleged assault victim, just two days after he was arrested.
Spell, 48, is banned from speaking with the neighbor either online and in person, according to the order issued Friday, which has since been reported by The Advocate.
“Mr Spell may walk over and check his mailbox; other than checking his mailbox, he is to be 50 yards away from the protected person’s property,” a note on the order says.
Pastor Tony Spell allegedly assaulted his neighbor’s son after he threatened to kill and rape his wife. WBRZ
Spell, the pastor of Baton Rouge’s Life Tabernacle Church, will appear in court in September after being charged with second degree battery over last month’s assault that unfolded opposite the church.
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He claimed Scott Sherwin’s son had threatened to rape and kill his wife before delivering 35 blows.
But two days after the brawl Scott Sherwin reported Spell for allegedly mowing his lawn at 4 a.m., WBRZ reported.
“He’s doing this to intimidate my victim son,” Sherwin claimed in bodycam video seen by The Post.
“Do you cut your grass at 4 in the morning?” he asked the responding officer.
“You gotta get him to stop man,” the furious dad said.
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Sherwin claimed his family was unable to sleep – alleging Spell was carrying out “psychological warfare.”
An enraged Sherwin then swore at his neighbor, allegedly flipping him off, according to the bodycam.
Tony Spell kneeling and holding a goat. Tony Spell / Facebook
“I was asleep when this started at four in the morning,” Sherwin stressed, aggressively pointing at his phone.
The cop then went over to Spell, who was sitting on his lawnmower, before asking for his name.
“Everybody in the world knows my name,” Spell brazenly replied to the cop.
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Spell, who faces up to eight years in prison if convicted, then labeled Sherwin’s son a “f—-t” and seemed to take pride in the now-viral beatdown.
“He’s just sore because I beat the crap out of his f—-t boy,” he said.
“And he’s next if he comes over here and harasses these boys,” Spell said, speaking while a group of teens gathered nearby.
He has been embroiled in a rivalry with his neighbor. Tony Spell
Spell then started his lawnmower up and told the boys “get to work,” essentially ordering them to clear off.
Spell strongly defended his actions after being released from jail over the assault.
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“Number one, I’m a husband, number two, I’m a father, and number three, I’m a pastor who shepherds his flock,” he said. “I will not allow a man to murder my children when I’m gone,” he told reporters.
He revealed what Sherwin’s son allegedly said, which prompted the beatdown.
“He said, ‘Tony, I’m going to rape your wife, I’m going to rape all your grandchildren, and the next time you go out of town, I’m going to kill them,’” Spell said.
He addressed the altercation to his congregation and compared it to “domestic terrorism.” He also cited a Bible passage from Mark 16:18, WAFB reported.
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“In my name, they shall lay hands on the sick. And they shall recover,” he said.
“So today, I fulfilled the scripture. I laid hands on the sick. I don’t know how much recovery they’re going to have, but I laid hands on the sick.”
Spell has been in a longstanding feud with Sherwin; the pastor filed a lawsuit during the pandemic in 2020 over surveillance cameras that were installed.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Spell was ticketed for holding in-person church services, defying Louisiana’s social distancing restrictions.
Spell claimed the cameras were installed to monitor him.
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In April 2020, Spell was accused of attacking a protester outside his church. Police alleged that Spell backed his church bus in the direction of the protester, who was identified as Trey Bennett, according to news station WAFB-TV.
He was arrested for aggravated assault but never formally charged.
A new study from researchers at LSU’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center, FMOL Health | Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, and the Metamor Institute found that metabolic and bariatric surgery can be delivered safely and effectively for adolescents and young adults living with severe obesity, leading to significant weight loss and improvements in obesity-related health conditions.
Published in Obesity Surgery, the study examined outcomes from 76 patients ages 10 to 25 who underwent bariatric surgery through a Louisiana-based program at the Metamor Institute between January 2020 and March 2025. Researchers evaluated safety outcomes as well as longer-term health improvements associated with surgical obesity treatment.
The study found that patients achieved an average total body weight loss of 29%-32% maintained over one to five years. Among patients with available follow-up data, 94% experienced remission of type 2 diabetes, 67% showed improvement in hypertension and dyslipidemia and 64% experienced improvement in gastroesophageal reflux disease. Surgical complications remained low, with only 5% of patients experiencing complications within 30 days of surgery.
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Researchers noted that these outcomes were likely supported by a comprehensive, multidisciplinary care model that included experienced surgeons, nutritional guidance, behavioral support and coordinated medical follow-up. The study population represented a broad cross-section of Louisiana patients, with nearly 75% covered by Medicaid, highlighting the importance of ensuring access to effective obesity treatment options across socioeconomic backgrounds.
The findings support current American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations that adolescents age 13 and older with severe obesity and related health risks be evaluated for metabolic and bariatric surgery as part of comprehensive, evidence-based obesity care.
Meta Platforms Inc. has committed to spending an additional $40 billion on its sprawling data center campus in Louisiana, pushing its total expected investment beyond $250 billion for the site as it continues to grow its artificial intelligence computing footprint.
