By Police1 Staff
BATON ROUGE, La. — Voters chose the “Cajun John Wayne” to represent the 3rd district of Louisiana, CBS News reported.
Republican Clay Higgins, whose “Crime Stoppers” segment gave him his nickname, resigned from the Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office earlier this year after some of his videos stirred controversy. He said he resigned as a “matter of conscience.”
His viral videos were commonly directed at criminals. In one video, Higgins sent a warning to gang members in his jurisdiction.
“You think men like these are afraid of an uneducated, 125-pound punk like you that’s never won a fair fight in his life and holds your gun sideways?” Higgins said at the time. “Men like us, we do dumbbell presses with weights bigger than you.”
The ACLU later released a statement on the video questioning Higgins’ choice of words like “heathens.”
After leaving the Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office, Higgins began his run for a new career in politics. His political campaign focused on disenchantment with career politicians, which led to his Saturday victory against the presumed front-runner Scott Angelle.