Mike Branch | |
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Louisiana State Senator for District 13 (East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, and Livingston parishes) | |
In office 1996–2000 |
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Preceded by | Michael "Mike" Cross |
Succeeded by | Heulette Fontenot |
Member of the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board (District 11) | |
In office 1989–1995 |
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Preceded by | Gordon Herbert Hutchinson, Sr. |
Succeeded by | Jay Devall |
Personal details | |
Political party | Republican |
Parents | John and Mary Branch |
Alma mater |
Central High School in Baton Rouge |
Occupation | Commercial pilot |
Military service | |
Service/branch | Louisiana Army National Guard |
Central High School in Baton Rouge
Michael Francis Branch, known as Mike Branch (born 1965), served from 1996 to 2000 as the Louisiana State Senator from District 13 (East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, and Livingston parishes). Branch unseated incumbent Democratic Senator Mike Cross, a former Mayor of Baker in East Baton Rouge Parish.
An Eagle Scout, Branch graduated from Central High School and Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, where he procured Bachelor of General Studies and Master of Public Administration degrees. He was a Second Lieutenant in the Louisiana Army National Guard. Prior to his State Senate term, Branch was a member of the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board. He is a commercial pilot.
In 1990, Branch was elected to the District 11 seat on the 12-member East Baton Rouge Parish School Board. He led in the primary held on October 6, 1990, 4,945 votes (42.4 percent), and went into the general election with the one-term incumbent Democrat Gordon Herbert Hutchinson, Sr. (born 1921), who received 4,091 votes (35.1 percent). In the lower-turnout second balloting on November 6, Branch defeated Hutchinson, 4,247 votes (63.4 percent) to 2,448 (36.6 percent). Branch was unopposed for a second four-year school board term in 1994, but he served less than a year thereafter because he resigned from the board to run for the State Senate. Branch was succeeded on the School Board by Jay Devall, winner of an all-Republican special election to complete the remaining three years of the term.