BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards' campaign says the Democratic incumbent is kicking off his re-election bid this year with nearly $8.4 million in the bank for the race.

The Edwards campaign told The Associated Press that the Deep South's lone Democratic governor will report raising nearly $3.8 million in 2018 when he files his latest fundraising report. Two Republicans have announced they will challenge Edwards on the October ballot: U.S. Rep. Ralph Abraham, a third-term congressman, and Baton Rouge businessman Eddie Rispone, a longtime Republican political donor.

Rispone said he will put $5 million or more of his own cash into jumpstarting his campaign. But Abraham will have to rely more heavily on donors. Both Republicans only recently started fundraising for their gubernatorial bids and haven't released finance figures yet.