Clay Higgins

In 2004 Higgins became a patrol officer for the Opelousas City Police Department. By 2007, Opelousas Police Department Chief Perry Gallow was prepared to take major disciplinary action against Higgins. In a letter to the City Council, he wrote, "Clay Higgins used unnecessary force on a subject during the execution of a warrant and later gave false statements during an internal investigation. Although he later recanted his story and admitted to striking a suspect in handcuffs and later releasing him".[6] Higgins resigned before disciplinary action could be imposed. In September 2016 during his Congressional campaign, Higgins claimed to have resigned for other reasons. Gallow, by then retired, disputed Higgins's claim at that time.[6]

Higgins next worked for the Port Barre Police Department through 2010. In 2011, he joined the St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office. After the office's public information officer was reassigned in October 2014, Higgins was appointed to the role and promoted to captain.[2][7] As public information officer, Higgins made videos for the parish Crime Stoppers program. He first used standard scripts, but began to improvise in his own style, appealing to suspects to surrender and sometimes threatening them by name.[8] His videos went viral, and in 2015 he was described by national media as the "Cajun John Wayne" for his intimidating persona.[4] Sheriff Bobby Guidroz urged restraint, advising Higgins to refrain from personal comments about suspects and to keep a professional tone in his videos.[9]

Higgins also made a video for the state police, with a script that prompted protests from suspects' families and the ACLU. He resigned from the St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office in February 2016.[10][11] Guidroz had warned him against using disrespectful and demeaning language about suspects, ordering him to "Tone down his unprofessional comments on our weekly Crime Stoppers messages".[12] He issued a statement saying that Higgins's comments underlined "a growing undertone of insubordination and lack of discipline on Higgins’ part".[13] Guidroz said that Higgins had gone against department policy by misusing his badge and uniform for personal profit and gain, citing Higgins's wearing a uniform in an ad for a security firm. He also reprimanded Higgins for using his badge and uniform on his personal website to support sales of T-shirts and shot glasses for his Limited Liability Corporation (LLC). Higgins also used the department's physical address in registering his LLC with the state; both actions were against department policy.[9]

Salon reported in an investigative article that during this period, Higgins "negotiated paid speaking appearances with other police departments. In one email, Higgins discussed his request for a speaker's fee that included shopping money for his wife and part of the fuel for his friend's private plane."[14] He asked for cash payments. Higgins also conducted his private business via email on "his government email account during work hours without the permission or knowledge of his supervisors. Higgins also appears to have attempted to conceal his earnings from the IRS in order to avoid wage garnishment for unpaid taxes. Whether those actions constitute tax fraud is unclear."[14]

Shortly after resigning from St. Landry Parish, in March 2016 Higgins was accepted and sworn in as a Reserve Deputy Marshal in the city of Lafayette, Louisiana.[15] Reserve forces in city and Parish Sheriff's offices in Louisiana receive regular training and are commissioned as law enforcement officers. They are part-time and made up of persons from many walks of life.[16]

In 2019, Higgins retired his commission as a Reserve Deputy Marshal. He maintains an active law enforcement commission as a reserve officer with the Louisiana Attorney General's office.[1]

Higgins was awarded the title of Kentucky Colonel in March 2016 by Kentucky Governor, Matt Bevin.[17]

After Higgins's resignation from the St. Landry Sheriff's Office, Chris Comeaux, a Republican campaign staffer, recruited him to run for office.[8] In May 2016, Higgins declared his candidacy in the 2016 election to represent Louisiana's 3rd congressional district.[18][19] He crossed district lines to run for this seat, as he resides in the 5th congressional district.[3] A Super PAC headed by U.S. Senator David Vitter's former chief of staff supported Higgins's candidacy.[18]

Higgins finished second in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on November 8, behind Republican Scott Angelle, in which nearly 68% of the parish voted.[18][20] He faced Angelle in a runoff election on December 10 and won with 56.1% of the vote; turnout had declined to about 28% of voters.[18]

Higgins was challenged by Democrats Rob Anderson, Mildred "Mimi" Methvin, Larry Rader, and Verone Thomas, Libertarian Aaron Andrus, and Republican Josh Guillory.[21] President Trump endorsed Higgins.[22] He defeated all six challengers in the jungle primary, winning reelection without a runoff.[23]

In response to protests in response to the police shooting death of Trayford Pellerin, Higgins made a post on Facebook stating he would "drop 10 of you where you stand."[24]

Higgins was sworn into the House of Representatives on January 3, 2017.[25]

He has said that he sleeps on an air mattress on the floor of his Capitol Hill office.[26][27] He works out and showers in the House gymnasium in the early morning.

Higgins voted with other Republicans in favor of the American Health Care Act of 2017, which would have repealed and replaced major portions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.[28]

In December 2017, Higgins voted with other Republicans in favor of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.[29][30] He touted the Act's benefits, but the Congressional Budget Office projected that GDP growth would decline to 2.4% in 2019 as business investment and government purchases slowed.[31]

• Committee on Homeland Security
  • Subcommittee on Border Security (Ranking Member)
  • Subcommittee on Oversight
• Committee on Oversight and Reform
  • Subcommittee on Environment.

Higgins is anti-abortion and has compared women choosing to terminate their pregnancy to the Holocaust.[32]

Higgins supports gun rights and opposes the regulation of firearms. In 2017 he stated "The modern hysteria over guns is another example of our weakened society. Guns weren't really regulated at all prior to the 60s in America. Throughout our history, prior to just 50 years ago, a child could purchase a gun from any seller, if daddy sent him with the money."[32]

In 2018, Higgins commented on his Facebook page about an OpEd article by retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens in the New York Times, which called for the repeal of the Second Amendment.[33] Higgins said, "Judge John Paul Stevens, Your Honor, whatever... put together any badass socialists you can muster. As their attorney, make sure they have their affairs in order. Molon Labe." [34]

Higgins opposes the carrying of weapons at demonstrations. In 2020 he posted on Facebook that he would "drop 10 of you where you stand", referring to potential armed demonstrators.[24] This inspired the Not Fucking Around Coalition to have an armed demonstration.

In July 2018, House Democrats called for a floor vote that sought to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). House GOP leaders scrapped the latter and called for the House to vote on a resolution authored by Higgins and Kevin McCarthy to support ICE.[35]

Higgins opposes same-sex marriage and believes that marriage is between a man and a woman. He says he believes that states should have the right to ban same-sex marriage, contrary to the Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges.[32]

Higgins supported Trump's 2017 executive order to temporarily curtail travel from certain countries, saying, "The president's executive order for a short-term restriction on visa entries from seven countries that are known to foster terrorists, combined with a systematic review of our immigration and vetting procedure, is reasonable."[36]

Higgins has promoted himself and spoken at rallies by anti-government militia groups. But when informed that a black militia group protesting police brutality might show up at a protest, he suggested on Facebook in September 2020 that he would shoot them ("drop any 10 of you where you stand"). He included a picture of black militia members at a protest. Facebook removed the post per its policy to remove content that "incites or facilitates serious violence".[37]

In December 2020, Higgins was one of 126 Republican members of the House of Representatives to sign an amicus brief in support of Texas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which Joe Biden defeated incumbent Donald Trump. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case on the basis that Texas lacked standing under Article III of the Constitution to challenge the results of an election held by another state.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement that called signing the amicus brief an act of "election subversion". She also reprimanded Higgins and the other House members who supported the lawsuit: "The 126 Republican Members that signed onto this lawsuit brought dishonor to the House. Instead of upholding their oath to support and defend the Constitution, they chose to subvert the Constitution and undermine public trust in our sacred democratic institutions." New Jersey Representative Bill Pascrell, citing section three of the 14th Amendment, called for Pelosi not to seat Higgins and the other Republicans who signed the brief supporting the suit, arguing that "the text of the 14th Amendment expressly forbids Members of Congress from engaging in rebellion against the United States. Trying to overturn a democratic election and install a dictator seems like a pretty clear example of that."