Simone B. Champagne

Simone Becnel Champagne (born December 27, 1954) is a Republican former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from District 49 (Iberia and Vermilion parishes) in south Louisiana.

She resides in Jeanerette in Iberia Parish, where in 1971 she graduated from Jeanerette High School. Thereafter, she studied banking in continuing education programs.^[1]She resigned her House seat late in 2014 to accept appointment as the chief administrative officer in 2015 with the city of Youngsville near Lafayette.^[2]

House service

From 2002 to 2007, Champagne was the chief administrative officer for the combined Iberia Parish and city of New Iberia government. She resigned to run for state representative and faced no opposition. The incumbent Democrat, later Independent, Troy Hebert, also of Jeanerette, vacated the seat because of term limits and instead was elected to the Louisiana State Senate. Champagne won her House race as a Democrat, but in July 2010, she switched party allegiance.^[3][4] Representative Champagne serves on the House committees on (1) Appropriations, (2) Municipal, Parochial and Cultural Affairs, (3) Natural Resources and Environment, (4) House Executive Committee, and (5) Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget. She is a member of the Acadiana delegation, the Legislative Women's Caucus, the Republican legislative delegation, and the Louisiana Rural Caucus.^[1] In 2009, Champagne was rated 100 percent by the Louisiana Right to Life Federation and the conservative Louisiana Family Forum and 65 percent by the trade association, the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry.^[4]

Special Senate election

Early in 2011, Champagne ran in a special election for the state Senate but lost to a House colleague, Fred Henry Mills, Jr., a banker and pharmacist from St. Martin Parish. Mills also switched from Democrat-to-Republican in 2010.^[5]

In a campaign statement for the Senate race, Champagne said: "Government spending and growth is the problem, it hinders our ability to grow our economy and small businesses. Now more than ever we need a true conservative in the State Senate, and that is why I decided to run for this important seat . . . If we want to create jobs we must get government out of the way. No more moratoriums, no more regulations and we can’t afford higher taxes. As a mother of five and grandmother of three, I’ve stretched a budget and done more with less. Shouldn’t our government do the same? . . . If we have learned anything in the past two years it is that we cannot afford to allow government to run rampant and continue the out-of-control spending. That is why I voted against the bloated Louisiana budget last year and supported legislation that allowed Louisiana to opt out of Barack Obama's costly health-care mandate."^[6]

Mills polled 12,812 votes in the special Senate election, or 60 percent of the total cast in the first round of balloting. Champagne finished second with 4,040 votes (19 percent).^[5] Champagne campaigned as a "Reagan Republican" and had the open support of Republican U.S. Senator David Vitter.^[7] Independent David Groner finished third with 2,534 votes (12 percent). The remaining ballots favored two other Republican candidates and a second Independent hopeful. No Democrats contested the position.^[5]

House reelection

Champagne won reelection in the primary election held on October 22, 2011, having amassed more than two-thirds of the ballots cast over both Democratic and Republican opponents.^[8]

A special election was held to choose a successor for the year remaining in Champagne's House term. Attorney Blake Miguez of Iberia Parish was elected to succeed Champagne.^[9]

References