Other candidates on the Morrison slate were state Representative Jack M. Dyer of Baton Rouge for insurance commissioner, and [[Raymond Laborde]], the mayor of Marksville in Avoyelles Parish for custodian of voting machines, a position later renamed elections commissioner. In 1968, when Duval entered the state Senate, Lieutenant Governor Aycock, presiding officer of the Senate, began his third term in the second-highest state office.
==Opposition to Martin Luther King holiday==
Duval was state senator-elect at the time of the King assassination in [[Memphis]],[[Tennessee]], on April 4, 1968. He issued a statement critical of the direction of the civil rights movement:
'I call upon all men, the responsible Negro community as well as the white, to face the facts and truth and to dispel from all minds the falsehood and hypocrisy that have been visited upon us by our leaders and the news media. If the men who died in [[World War II]], in [[Korea]], and [[Vietnam]] should return, they would cry out in horror at the eulogizing of a man who. . . aided and abetted the enemies of this nation, who preached disobedience of law and who incited violence and riot.<br>
I know I speak against the tide of overwhelming emotion ... but let the voice of truth be heard in the land. If it is possible, let the voice of reason be heard. Then may the Negro and the white communities join together in a truthful and realistic effort to build a better society.'''</blockquote>
==As Duval in the state SenatorSenate==
Once in the state Senate, Duval spoke eloquently and for long periods on nearly any topic brought before the body. Some called him the "Cicero of the Louisiana Senate." He was also helpful to colleagues in obtaining office space and other personal favors. In 2006, the state Senate posthumously honored him with the dedication of the Senate building known as "Duval Hall."
Claude and Betty Duval are interred at Magnolia Cemetery in Houma. Duval was [[Episcopalian]]. In addition, to the Senate office facility, Duval is honored through the "Senator Claude B. Duval Scholarship" given at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana.
==References==
{{reflist}}