Changes

==Political life==

==Political life==

Cortez sought the House seat when the Republican Ernest Joseph "Ernie" Alexander, Jr. (1933-2012) was contemplating seeking a third term, but he died just a few days after his second term ended. Cortez has been allied with former state Senator Michael J. Michot, a former Democrat and Cortez's fraternity brother at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and with the then [[Independent]]] (since Republican) former District 45 state Representative Joel Craig Robideaux (born 1962), both of whom actively supported Cortez in the race against [[Patrick LeBlanc]] through an organization called "Leadership for Louisiana." In the 2007 House primary, Cortez defeated fellow Republican Patrick LeBlanc, an architect who owned  the private-prison company LCS Corrections Services. In the campaign Cortez questioned prison contracts which LeBlanc obtained through sheriffs in Bastrop in Morehouse Parish and [[San Antonio]], [[Texas]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071228215330/http://knoe.com/weblog/archives/00000063.html|date=October 1, 2007|title="Ethics Candidate" Linked to Scandals Involving Louisiana and Texas sheriffs|accessdate=April 12, 2019}}</ref>​

Cortez sought the House seat when the Republican Ernest Joseph "Ernie" Alexander, Jr. (1933-2012) was contemplating seeking a third term, but he died just a few days after his second term ended. Cortez has been allied with former state Senator Michael J. Michot, a former Democrat and Cortez's fraternity brother at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and with the then [[Independent]]] (since Republican) former District 45 state Representative Joel Craig Robideaux (born 1962), both of whom actively supported Cortez in the race against [[Patrick LeBlanc]] through an organization called "Leadership for Louisiana." In the 2007 House primary, Cortez defeated fellow Republican Patrick LeBlanc, an architect who owned  the private-prison company LCS Corrections Services. In the campaign Cortez questioned prison contracts which LeBlanc obtained through sheriffs in Bastrop in Morehouse Parish and [[San Antonio]], [[Texas]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071228215330/http://knoe.com/weblog/archives/00000063.html|date=October 1, 2007|title="Ethics Candidate" Linked to Scandals Involving Louisiana and Texas sheriffs|publisher=KNOETV|accessdate=April 12, 2019}}</ref>​

Cortez received 7,742 votes (55.5 percent) compared to LeBlanc's 6,218 ballots (44.5 percent).<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, October 20, 2007.</ref> Less than five months after the election, LeBlanc  and his pilot died in a small-craft airplane crash near Abbeville in Vermilion Parish near Lafayette.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theind.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2183&Itemid=93|title=Home – IND Media|publisher=theind.com|accessdate=February 16, 2018; no longer on-line}}</ref>​

Cortez received 7,742 votes (55.5 percent) compared to LeBlanc's 6,218 ballots (44.5 percent).<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, October 20, 2007.</ref> Less than five months after the election, LeBlanc  and his pilot died in a small-craft airplane crash near Abbeville in Vermilion Parish near Lafayette.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theind.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2183&Itemid=93|title=Home – IND Media|publisher=theind.com|accessdate=February 16, 2018; no longer on-line}}</ref>​