With 61% of the vote, Republican State Rep. Blake Miguez avoided a runoff to represent District 22 in the Senate. He will replace Sen. Fred Mills, who was term-limited.
Miguez was the top vote-getter Saturday’s in a five-person race, followed by Hugh Andre, with 21%. Other candidates were Dexter Lathan, who garnered 1%, Melinda Narcisse “Mel” Mitchell, with 12%, and Phanat “PX” Xanamane, with 6%.
Miguez is from New Iberia. The House GOP delegation leader, he ran with the support of the business establishment in Baton Rouge, Lafayette-based talk show host Moon Griffon, New Iberia political operative Shoe-Do Lewis and the National Rifle Association. Miguez, an Eagle Scout, is a champion pistol shooter in his spare time. A polished speaker who seems to live, eat and breathe politics, Miguez boasts about forcefully opposing Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, though his Trump-style confrontational tactics turned off the speaker of the House and the Senate president, both Republicans.