David Vitter, a Republican Senator from Louisiana, came out voicing strong support for Common Core education standards in a recent interview.

In an interview taped for C-SPAN’s ‘Newsmakers,’ Vitter called Common Core “very strong, significant, positive standards.”

He added that the state must make sure teachers are properly prepared to use the standards and must retain local control of curriculum.

The comments come as Jindal is taking steps to undermine the standards and remove them from Louisiana classrooms, in a dispute with education leaders that’s headed to court.

Vitter is taking a different stance from his two competitors in the governor’s race, who have raised concerns about Common Core.

The gubernatorial election is still quite a ways off, but polling has shown Vitter consistently over anyone else who has discussed running or is seen as potentially running. This sudden support for Common Core is, frankly odd. The standards are the basis of no less than three lawsuits (one filed by 17 state legislators who are opposed to it, one filed by aggrieved parents and teachers who are in support of it and were joined recently by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, and a counter-suit filed by Jindal in response to the previous one).

It is also not the first time Vitter and Jindal have been at odds over Louisiana policy. Vitter, has talked about Common Core before and has voiced his support over what the standards represent, even if he questioned the use of the PARCC Testing, which is the current source of the drama in Louisiana.