Famous Louisiana deputy Captain Clay Higgins wins congressional seat in runoff election

A legendary Louisiana deputy and Army veteran dubbed “The Cajun John Wayne” now has a new title in the aftermath of the election – Congressman.

Clay Higgins -better known by his nickname “The Cajun John Wayne” made regular headlines over the past few years for his hard-talking Crime Stoppers videos and often-controversial calling out of criminals.

Higgins was forced to resign from the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office earlier this year after one of his Crime Stoppers videos generated outcry when he called members of a street gang “thugs” and “animals.”

Prior to Law Enforcement, Higgins served six years as a Military Policeman in the US Army and National Guard, serving a stretch of duty in Panama and leaving the service a Staff Sergeant.

Higgins won the House of Representatives seat for Louisiana’s 3rd District, securing southwest and south central sectors in the state.

No stranger to long hours and duties that keep him from home, Higgins actually took a pay cut to become a law enforcement officer.

“I had the trapping of success. I was – I had money,” he said. “I was a very successful businessman, but wasn’t fulfilled in my spirit and I knew there was another path for me.”

According to CBS News, Higgins found his fulfilment in law enforcement.

“I went from a job making $144,000 a year to making $8 an hour as a cop,” he said.

Fortunately for Higgins, his salary is about to jump to $174,000 a year, although he may not be in Louisiana as often as he’d like.

Still, Higgins models himself as the down-to-earth “everyman.”

“I am not a politician,” Higgins said on his campaign site. “I don’t have to form a committee to know my opinion on something. I don’t need a focus group to tell me how I feel or what I believe. I speak my mind. I wrote every word of this issues manifest. This is just the beginning. I’ll be adding issues over time. You won’t agree with 100% of my positions. However you will know that I speak the truth as I see it…from my heart.”

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