Bob Hensgens

Background

Originally from Cameron Parish, Hensgens graduated from Vermilion Catholic High School in Abbeville, the parish seat of Vermilion Parish. He attended Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge but dropped out after his father was killed in a farm accident. He thereafter received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He is a former director of the Vermilion Parish hospital service district and since 2006 a managing partner in the health care company MH3F. Hensgens is also a former president of the Gueydan Chamber of Commerce.

Hensgens is Roman Catholic. He is married to the former Nancy LeJeune and has three children, Allison Chapman Istre, Beau Istre and Bobbie Jo LeJeune. Hensgens is the proud grandfather of four granddaughters.

Legislative election

Through his victory in a special election held on April 30, 2011, Hensgens became the 55th member of his party to serve in the 105-member Louisiana House. No Democrat filed for the seat though the district had cast two thirds of its votes in 2003 for the successful Democratic gubernatorial nominee, Kathleen Babineaux Blanco of Lafayette.

In his statement of candidacy, Hensgens said that Louisiana is "struggling to pay the bills for promises that should have never been made. ... somewhere along the line our promise of a safety net has been transformed into a hammock and that is not sustainable. Government, like you and me, needs to live within its means."

As a legislator, he succeeds State Representative Jonathan Perry, who narrowly won a special election for the Louisiana State Senate held on February 19, 2011. Hensgens defeated fellow Republican Linda A. Hardee (born January 20, 1948), an educator and a former mayor of Kaplan in Vermilion Parish, who carried the endorsement of the Louisiana Association of Educators. Oddly, Hensgens lent Hardee $200 so that she could pay cash for a portion of her filing fee. They both came to the Vermilion Parish clerk of court's office to register for the race at the same time, and she was short of the required $450 in cash.

Hensgens narrowly prevailed, 3,477 (52.35 percent) to 3,165 (47.65 percent). He narrowly lost his home parish; his victory came from a 2-1 margin in the thirteen precincts in Cameron Parish. Hardee won the bulk of the African American electorate. Hensgens, however, carried the backing of the Tea Party of Louisiana. Hensgens balanced the town budget in Gueydan by cutting spending, rather than raising taxes, and he reduced his own salary to give the police officers a raise.

Both candidates described themselves as "pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, family-oriented, and fiscally-responsible."

Hensgens was sworn in as representative by his friend and predecessor in the office, Senator Jonathan Perry. This was the first time in Louisiana history in which a state senator swore in a representative.

Prior to his election to the House, Hensgens, as a Democrat, served nearly four years as the mayor of Gueydan, a town near Abbeville. Acting Mayor David Dupuis succeeded Hengens and served until the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 22, 2011.