Amedee, Harrison in runoff

Beryl Amedee, R-Gray, and incumbent Joe Harrison, R-Napoleonville, will face each other in a Nov. 21 runoff for District 51 State Representative.
Amedee received 41 percent, or 3,391 votes, to Harrison’s 37 percent, 3,070 votes in Saturday’s election. Howard Castay, D-Morgan City, got 23 percent, or 1,899 votes. The state representative seat includes parts of St. Mary, Assumption, Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes.
Harrison is in his second term as a state representative and is seeking a third and final term.
“I have a written policy. I have a record. And that’s what I’m going to try to get out there and portray to the people,” Harrison said.
Amedee was “very excited” with the outcome of Saturday’s election because she came into race “virtually an unknown in most of the areas in my district,” she said.
Amedee had a little name recognition in Terrebonne Parish, serving on the parish council, “but that’s it,” she said.
“To have that overwhelming number of votes, I’m just very excited. It looks very promising for the runoff,” Amedee said.
Harrison said he has proven he can “work across party lines” to do what is best for the people of Louisiana. Harrison described himself as a “conservative Republican,” who will stick with his values, he said.
The most popular issues in the campaign have been “education and jobs,” Amedee said.
During the next month leading up to the runoff, Amedee plans to make people aware of the education policy experience she has had over the years at the State Capitol working with policy makers, she said. Amedee got involved in education policy years ago as part of a “grassroots lobbying effort” concerning bills affecting home schools, she said.
Harrison said he is “totally against” Common Core, which is “undermining our state” and taking away the ability for parents to work with teachers, he said.
Making sure state gaming revenues go toward education, as they were intended to, is the major issue Harrison has pursued since being elected, he said. People are angry that the state is cutting funding to education, Harrison said.
Harrison said the region has “the most productive delegation in the state” when it comes to getting funds for the area.
Regarding economic issues, Amedee said the best way the Legislature can promote more jobs is to make sure the state doesn’t “place a bigger tax burden on businesses, especially small businesses.”
Amedee knows the struggles small businesses face including meeting payroll, regulations, tax burdens and unemployment compensation, she said. In the past, she and her husband have owned several businesses that involved the construction, automotive and marine services industries, she said.