Congressman Clay Higgins told a Crowley Lions Club luncheon during his campaign last August the transition from lawman to politician was “taking some getting used to.”
On Monday morning at Iota High School, he obviously seemed to be in his comfort zone during a surprise appearance at Iota High School, where he spoke first to the school’s SNAP Club (Social Norms Alcohol Precaution) and then to an assembly with all the school’s students.
The club’s sponsor, Iota High School english teacher, Melanie Broussard, called Higgins’ Washington D. C. office recently in the chance that he may be able to speak to the club.
“When I heard it was Iota High School,” he said. “I knew I’d be here today.”
Higgins said that during the campaign there were times when he was feeling ‘tired of all the stuff, the bad things, the lies that were told about him.
“I was finally able to sit down and watch a football game with my buddies one Sunday and then the commercials would come on,” he said. “There were people saying some really negative things about me and my friends were saying ‘Clay, I don’t remember any of that happening.’
“My energy was really taxed and it would have been easy for me to get depressed,” he said. “But then I came to the town of Iota and it seemed like the entire town had come out to see me. We still recall that Thursday night in Iota as a ‘moment.’ It gave me a boost and I won this district with 95 percent of the vote and as soon as I leave here I want to speak to the two people who didn’t vote for me.”
The kids laughed and seemed genuinely drawn to the congressman/lawman as he gave them advice.
“Life can be hard and full of trials and tribulations,” he said. “You have to be driven to stay on that path of righteousness. You won’t always win in school or on the athletic field. But if you work hard and stay righteous the Lord will smile at you.”
Higgins described himself as being smart when he was in high school but not being as studious as he should have been.
“If I came home with an A my mother thought the Virgin Mary was looking over me,” he said. “The people in this group are special. You are leaders. Keep focused on your dreams and don’t give up.”
He then recalled his victory over Scott Angelle last fall.
“I had the newspapers, the TV stations and all the media against me,” who referred to himself as the student’s “Uncle Clay.” “But it was the working men and women, the real Americans, that led me to victory and now I’m proud to represent them in Washington D.C.”
The deeply religious congressman left the SNAP club with a bit of advice.
“Always keep in mind that if you start every day on bended knee and if you stay on the righteous path that even though you may be imperfect, channel that energy or any pain you may feel to God,” he said. “You can tell him your Uncle Clay said that.”
Congressman Clay HIggins gives fist bumps to members of the Iota High School’s SNAP Club. (Photo by Jeannine LeJeune/Crowley Post-Signal)