Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon has held his elected—although initially appointed—position for a dozen years. He has been elected to three full terms, and he’s aiming at another one. Donelon has also faced opponents in the past, and the next cycle may host another.
Politicos say Tim Temple of DeRidder is being encouraged to consider the race. The president of Temptan, his father was Aubrey T. Temple Jr., the founding chairman of the board of LWCC.
According to his Committee of 100 biography, “Mr. Temple’s experience started within the insurance industry and is both broad and comprehensive.”
In his last campaign finance report filed in February, Commissioner Donelon was sitting on a $204,000 war chest.
—Dr. Wayne McMahen of Springhill is Louisiana’s newest lawmaker, having won election unopposed to the open seat in House District 10, which was vacated by former Rep. Gene Reynolds.
McMahen, a veterinarian, is a lifelong resident of the district, which encompasses all of Webster Parish and a small section of neighboring Bossier. In addition to being unopposed—a victory by paperwork—he also flipped a district that had been long held by Democrats, adding another vote to the ranks of the Republican majority in the lower chamber. (As of this morning the count is 61-39-3.)
McMahen retired from his veterinary practice earlier this year, but said that he still plans on seeing patients on a part-time basis while serving in the House.
The new representative, who was sworn-in earlier this month, said that rural health and education will be his top two priorities in the Legislature. McMahen said that since his swearing-in, he has traveled to Baton Rouge to visit the Capitol and has gone through the standard orientation process for new House members.
“I’m just trying to get my feet wet this first year, meet the other legislators and build those bonds,” said McMahen, who does not have any committee assignments yet but is the newest member of the House Republican Legislative Delegation.
They said it: “The secretary of state is always the most difficult office to raise money for, primarily because you can’t do anything for anybody.” —Consultant Lionel Rainey III, on the race for secretary of state, to The Associated Press
Jeremy Alford publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter, or on Facebook. He can be reached at JJA@LaPolitics.com.
