| − | In 1956, at the age of only twenty-seven, LeSage was appointed to the LSU Board of Supervisors, the governing board of the university. He left the board during his state Senate tenure but returned to serve again much later from 1992 to 1998. He maintained a lifelong interest in matters relating to his ''[[alma mater]]''.<ref name=bio>{{cite web|url=http://www.blpllaw.com/Firm%20Info/Lawyers/608130.aspx|title=Joseph C. LeSage, Jr.|publisher=blpllaw.com|accessdate=April 30, 2010}}</ref> | + | In 1956, at the age of only twenty-seven, LeSage was appointed to the LSU Board of Supervisors, the governing board of the university. He left the board during his state Senate tenure but returned to serve again much later from 1992 to 1998. He maintained a lifelong interest in matters relating to his ''[[alma mater]]''.<ref name=bio>{{cite web|url=http://www.blpllaw.com/Firm%20Info/Lawyers/608130.aspx|title=Joseph C. LeSage, Jr.|publisher=blpllaw.com|accessdate=April 20, 2021}}</ref> |
| | LeSage was elected to the state Senate in the [[general election]] held on February 6, 1968. LeSage and two other Democrats, [[J. Bennett Johnston, Jr.]] (the future [[U.S. Senator]]), and incumbent state Senator Jackson Beauregard Davis, Sr. (1918-2016), defeated the sole [[Republican Party|Republican]] candidate, [[Tom Stagg]], in an at-large race.<ref>State of Louisiana, Secretary of State, Louisiana general election returns, February 6, 1968.</ref> The Senate seats thereafter were converted to single-member districts. All four state Senate candidates were Shreveport lawyers. Stagg, who died three months before LeSage, was appointed in 1974 by [[U.S. President]] [[Richard M. Nixon]] to the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana in Shreveport. | | LeSage was elected to the state Senate in the [[general election]] held on February 6, 1968. LeSage and two other Democrats, [[J. Bennett Johnston, Jr.]] (the future [[U.S. Senator]]), and incumbent state Senator Jackson Beauregard Davis, Sr. (1918-2016), defeated the sole [[Republican Party|Republican]] candidate, [[Tom Stagg]], in an at-large race.<ref>State of Louisiana, Secretary of State, Louisiana general election returns, February 6, 1968.</ref> The Senate seats thereafter were converted to single-member districts. All four state Senate candidates were Shreveport lawyers. Stagg, who died three months before LeSage, was appointed in 1974 by [[U.S. President]] [[Richard M. Nixon]] to the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana in Shreveport. |