Les Farnum

Leslie Allen Farnum, known as Les Farnum (born July 31, 1957), is the incoming District 33 state representative for Calcasieu Parish in the southwestern portion of Louisiana. T win his seat, Farnum changed parties from Demcocrat to Republican. With 6,208 votes (56 percent), he unseated the short-term Representative Stuart Moss, a Republican who received 4,793 votes (44 percent).

Leslie Allen "Les" Farnum
Louisiana State Representative for District 33 (Calcasieu Parish)
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 13, 2020
Preceded by	Stuart Moss
Born	July 31, 1957 Sulphur, Louisiana
Political party	Democrat-turned-Republican (2019)
Spouse(s)	Karen Rogers Farnum
Children	Four children Three grandchildren
Residence	Sulphur, Louisiana
Alma mater	Sulphur High School Sowela Technical Community College (Lake Charles)
Occupation	Division manager of Power and Control Systems in Lake Charles; engaged in engineering, maintenance, and construction
Religion	Roman Catholic

In 2018, the District 33 seat opened when incumbent Representative Mike Danahay was elected mayor of Sulphur, a city twelve miles east of the larger Lake Charles. At the time Farnum was a member of the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury, an elected position. On November 6, 2018, Farnum ran for the House seat as a Democrat and polled 4,883 votes (39 percent). The victor for the year-long term was Republican Stuart Moss, who received 6,795 votes (54 percent). A second Democrat in the race, Teri Ann Estes Johnson (born July 10, 1959), the president of the Calcasieu Federation of Teachers, finished with 912 votes (7 percent).

Moss' defeat came only eleven months after his election as representative. He could take some solace in the fact that his opponent switched parties to make the second race and gained more than one thousand additional votes after the change of party affiliation.