Michael J. Michot

Michael John "Mike" Michot (born December 12, 1963) is a Republican member of the Louisiana State Senate, who has served from District 23 in Lafayette Parish since the year 2000. He is unopposed for his third Senate term in the jungle primary set for October 20, 2007. Previously, he served in District 43 in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1996-2000. Michot was elected as a Democrat to the House but switched parties on June 23, 1997, not quite midway in his term. He is the son of the semiretired businessman and former state Education Superintendent Louis J. Michot of Lafayette.

Michot considered running in the 2006 special election for Louisiana secretary of state but never filed his candidacy papers. The position went instead to his state Senate colleague Jay Dardenne of Baton Rouge.

He was elected to the House in the 1995 primary with 69 percent of the vote. He defeated both a Republican and a No Party challenger. In his first race as a Republican, Representative Michot unseated incumbent state Senator J. Lomax "Max" Jordan, a fellow Republican, 68-32 percent. Michot was reelected to the Senate in the 2003 primary with 88 percent of the vote over fellow Republican Herman L. Vidrine.

He is vice chairman of the Senate Commerce, Consumer Protection, and International Affairs Committee. He also chairs the Senate Select Committee on Consumer Affairs and Technology. In the latter capacity, Michot in 2004 piloted the "Share Your Opinions" program to permit citizens to log on to the Internet and "vote" on important public policy. Michot said that in the technologically-driven world, it is "important to use every available tool when it comes to aiding the public in their interaction with their legislators."

Michot was born to Louis Michot (born 1922) and the former Patricia Smith (born ca. 1927), a week after his father, then a state representative, ran unsuccessfully for governor in the 1963 Democratic primary. The two leading candidates who emerged from The Primary were former New Orleans Mayor deLesseps Story Morrison and the winner of the runoff primary, John J. McKeithen of tiny Columbia in north Louisiana. Louis Michot rebounded to served on the elected State Board of Education and as state education superintendent (1972-1976), having ousted the legendary William J. "Bill" Dodd in the 1971 primary.

Mike Michot graduated from the Roman Catholic Cathedral-Carmel High School in Lafayette. He then received a bachelor of science degree in finance from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (then known as the University of Southwestern Louisiana). A real estate developer, he is president of both Louis J. Michot & Associates and the Premier Medical Equipment Company. He cofounded the interest group known as Citizens for Accountable Government.

He is vice president of both the Broussard Industrial Development Board and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Acadiana. He is a past chairman of the Greater Lafayette Chamber of Commerce Business Development Committee. He is past president of Acadiana Handicap Services, Inc. He is a member of the Cathedral-Carmel Foundation, the Lafayette Kiwanis Club, and the ULM Legislative Relations Committee.

Michot is married to the former Monique Broussard (born ca. 1966). His brother, Patrick Louis "Rick" Michot (born 1948), is a state judge for the Fifteenth District in Lafayette and also a Republican convert. Mike and Rick Michot are members of "Les Freres Michot", a popular Lafayette-based Cajun music band.