3rd District candidates meet for forum

Four candidates who hope to represent Louisiana’s 3rd Congressional District appeared Wednesday at a St. Mary Chamber forum — but not the man they hope to unseat.

U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins, R-Lafayette, was a no-show Wednesday. So were three other candidates who qualified for the Nov. 8 primary, a Tuesday election. Early voting begins Oct. 25.

The challengers are hoping to defy history. Higgins is completing his third term, and since at least 1980, only one incumbent House member has been defeated for re-election in the 3rd or 7th District, portions of which make up the current 3rd District.

Then-Rep. Jeff Landry, now Louisiana attorney general, lost to another incumbent, Charles Boustany, after both were placed in
the newly redrawn 3rd District following the 2010 Census.

Appearing Wednesday at Morgan City Municipal Auditorium were Holden Hoggatt, a Republican assistant district attorney from Lafayette; Tia LaBrun, a Democrat and teacher from Lafayette; Thomas “Lane” Payne Jr., a Republican and clergyman from Perry in Vermilion Parish; and Jacob Shaheen, a Republican and teacher from Lake Charles.
Among the four, Hoggatt took on Higgins most directly.

“I believe we lack competent representation in Washington,” said Hoggatt, who prosecutes drug cases in the 15th Judicial District.
Hoggatt said Higgins hasn’t been effective in securing hurricane recovery assistance for southwest Louisiana. He said Steve Scalise, R-Metairie, was more effective after Hurricane Ida because he establishes relationships and knows the system.

Hoggatt said his priorities are fighting crime, fighting inflation and securing the borders. He also criticized President Joe Biden’s energy policy, which he said discourages offshore oil and gas production while encouraging OPEC countries to increase their production.

Payne was also critical of the current federal energy policy, which he said lacks understanding of the economic ripples created by reduced production, especially in the state’s petrochemical industry.

“My first statement is ‘drill, baby, drill,’” Payne said.

He also spoke against regulations that he said hurt another iconic St. Mary industry, shrimping.

Like Hoggatt, he said the industry is being hurt by the failure to inspect imported shrimp. Payne is prepared to go as far as an import moratorium to protect the industry.

Payne said he has been instrumental in hurricane recovery efforts in Vermilion.

“I wasn’t serving the people for name recognition,” he said. “I served the people because the people needed to be served.”
LeBrun, raised by a single mother and a single mother herself, said she hopes to be part of improving education, making child care affordable and promoting early childhood education.

“I love to help people,” LeBrun said, and running for Congress “is a natural extension of that, I believe.”

She said federal hurricane response could be improved by developing a formula to trigger assistance immediately rather than waiting on congressional action on aid.

After the hurricanes of 2020, “Lake Charles is not yet in recovery, and that’s not OK,” LeBrun said.
In a mid-term election cycle in which abortion is expected to play a major role, LeBrun said she supports “a woman’s freedom to make her own body choices.”

Shaheen is the youngest member of the group, a 32-year-old teacher and a Republican who wore a black “Working Class
Solidarity” T-shirt to the forum.

His candidacy is based on campaign finance reform, he said.

“We don’t have free-market capitalism in America,” Shaheen said. “We have crony capitalism.”

The donations people make to political candidates aren’t just donations, he said. “They are investments.”
Like LeBrun, Shaheen was more enthusiastic about developing alternative energy sources than either Payne or Hoggatt.
Shaheen said nuclear power should be in the mix.

The candidates who qualified but did not appear Wednesday were Higgins; Lessie Olivia LeBlanc, Democrat; Guy McClendon, Libertarian; and Gloria Wiggins, Democrat.

The St. Mary Chamber has scheduled an Oct. 12 forum for candidates in the 6th Congressional District, which takes in portions of eastern St. Mary after the recent redistricting. The candidates there are incumbent Garret Graves, R-Baton Rouge; Brian Belzer, R-Prairieville; and Rufus Holt Craig, Libertarian of Baton Rouge.