| | Cathey graduated from St. Frederick High School and the [[University of Louisiana at Monroe]]. He is a member of the First [[Southern Baptist|Baptist]] Church of West Monroe. He is a board member for the [[YMCA]], the Kiwanis International, and the Warrior Foundation.<ref name=pvs/> | | Cathey graduated from St. Frederick High School and the [[University of Louisiana at Monroe]]. He is a member of the First [[Southern Baptist|Baptist]] Church of West Monroe. He is a board member for the [[YMCA]], the Kiwanis International, and the Warrior Foundation.<ref name=pvs/> |
| − | 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. Cathy 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]].<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, October 12 and November 16, 2019.</ref> | + | 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]].<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, October 12 and November 16, 2019.</ref> |
| | + | 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]], and [[Robert Mills]], in voting to extend a $400 million temporary state sales tax even though the state is awaiting a windfall in federal [[coronavirus]] stimulus funding. Mills' vote was even in contrast to the Democratic Senator [[Greg Tarver]] of [[Shreveport]], who opposed the tax extension.<ref>''[[Moon Griffon|The Moon Griffon Show]],'' May 28, 2021.</ref> |