The Daily Kingfish was created in 2007 by New York native and then-LSU law student Ryan J. McLeod who noticed the dearth of progressive political news and analysis in Louisiana media. It quickly became the authoritative source for Louisiana-based left-leaning commentary and featured several regular contributors in addition to Ryan, including long-time activist Mike Stagg and then-emerging, prolifi
c writer Lamar White, Jr. DK covered the 2007 statewide elections and 2008 federal races with vigor and snarky effectiveness, gaining a wide following across the state and among national political media. It set the tone for media coverage of the 2008 special election in LA-6 and was the official Louisiana blog at the Democratic National Convention that same year. In 2009, a terrible thing happened: Ryan graduated from law school and returned to his ancestral home of New York a few months later (not terrible for him but for this site and Louisiana political commentary in general). Thereafter, control of the site bounced around among a handful of secretive politicos, and new posts became intermittent at best. Contributors during these years included Stagg, White, shady figures like Lamar Parmentel, and a handful of unknown others. Matt Bailey became publisher and contributor in February 2016 with plans to bring back more regular posts and add a variety of contributors to the mix.
