Stewart Cathey
| Stewart Arthur Cathey, Jr. | |
 | |
Louisiana State Senator for District 33 (Claiborne, Lincoln, Morehouse, Ouachita, Union, and West Carroll parishes)
| |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 13, 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Mike Walsworth |
|---|---|
| Succeeded by | |
| Born | April 19, 1981 Monroe, Ouachita Parish, Louisiana |
| Political party | Republican |
| Alma mater | University of Louisiana at Monroe |
| Occupation | Managing partner, The Cathey Group |
| Religion | Southern Baptist |
Stewart Arthur Cathey, Jr. (born April 19, 1981), is a businessman who resides in Sterlington in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana. He is a Republican state senator for District 33, which includes six parishes in north Louisiana. He is a United States Army combat veteran in the Afghanistan War and a continuing captain in the Army Reserve. Since 2013, Cathey has been the managing partner of his own real estate firm, The Cathey Group, based in his native Monroe.[1]
With 53 percent of the votes cast in the state Senate district, Cathey defeated his sole opponent, a more conservative Republican, Harvey "Ned" White, in the primary election held on October 14, 2023.[2] In the campaign White questioned Cathey's support for allowing former inmates to serve on juries and Cathey's unyielding support for the expansion of organized gambling. White had been a large donor to Cathey in 2019 but said his opponent has betrayed conservative principles.
Background
Cathey graduated from St. Frederick High School and the University of Louisiana at Monroe. He is a member of the First Baptist Church of West Monroe. He is a board member for the YMCA, the Kiwanis International, and the Warrior Foundation.[1]
Political life
In 2015, Cathey was an unsuccessful Republican candidate for the state Senate in District 35. He lost to former state Representative James R. Fannin of Jackson Parish, who in turn was unseated from his Senate position in 2019 by state Representative Jay Morris. When Cathey switched to District 33 to succeed the term-limited Republican Senator Michael Arthur Walsworth (born 1956), he faced an intra-party challenge from Wade Bishop, a West Monroe businessman. Cathey prevailed in the primary, 16,658 votes (52 percent) to Bishop's 15,407 (48 percent). Walsworth instead ran unsuccessfully for the position of Ouachita Parish Clerk of Court having been defeated by an Independent.[3]
In May 2021, Cathey, who campaigned two years earlier as a conservative, joined four other North Louisiana state senators previously considered conservatives, Barrow Peacock, Jay Morris, Barry Milligan, Mike Reese, and Robert Mills, in voting to extend a $400 million temporary state sales tax of .45 percent even though the state is awaiting a windfall in federal coronavirus stimulus funding. The Republicans stood for tax increases, but the Democratic Senator Greg Tarver of Shreveport, opposed the tax extension.[4]
Conservative commentator Moon Griffon, who urged voters to elect Cathey and defeat Jim Fannin in 2019, now says that he has no relationship with the now elusive Cathey, whom Griffon said walked away from him at a meeting which both were attending.[5]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Stewart Cathey, Jr.: The Voter's Self Defense System. Project Vote Smart. Retrieved on November 26, 2019.
- ↑ Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, October 14, 2023.
- ↑ Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, October 12 and November 16, 2019.
- ↑ The Moon Griffon Show, May 28, 2021.
- ↑ The Moon Griffon Show, June 1, 2021.
