Stephen Ortego

{BLP sources|date=November 2011}}

Stephen Juan Ortego (born February 13, 1984) is a Democratic member-elect of the Louisiana House of Representatives from Carencro in Lafayette Parish. He was elected on November 19, 2011 and will assume office on January 9, 2012.

Biography

Ortego was born in Opelousas, Louisiana and reared near the city of Carencro. Ortego graduated from Carencro High School where he served as class president his senior year. He received a legislative scholarship to attend Tulane University from State Representative Clara Baudoin. During his time at Tulane, he learned French at Université Sainte-Anne and became a Louisiana French language activist. He also served as a Catholic missionary in Honduras where he designed and built homes. Ortego left Tulane University in 2007 with a Masters degree in architecture.

After Ortego left Tulane, he ran for State Representative for term-limited Baudoin's open seat in 2007. He ran against businessman (and former Carencro mayor) Tommy Angelle, Carencro City Council member Bobby Badon, and former State Representative (and lone Republican) Raymond "La La" Lalonde. Ortego came in third in the primary, behind Badon and Lalonde. Badon went on to win the general election. Following his defeat, Ortego remained active in the community, co-founding Scolafayette, a design-build firm specializing in energy-efficient homes in Acadiana. He also serves on the board of the World Studies Institute of Louisiana, a group whose mission is to develop a French Immersion academy in Acadiana for high school students. He also worked with the Make It Right Foundation, an organization focused on rebuilding the 9th Ward in post-Katrina New Orleans.

After incumbent representative Bobby Badon announced he was not running for reelection in August 2011, Ortego announced he was running for the seat again. He won a hard-fought race against the Democrat-turned-Republican Donald “Don” Menard, a small businessman and two-term President of St. Landry Parish. Ortego polled 4,457 (55 percent) to Menard's 3,651 (45 percent) in a the general election. This was a reversal of the primary election in which Menard polled 4,555(44 percent) to Ortego's 3590 (35 percent). Third party candidate James “Jamie” Arnaud polled 2,103 (21 percent).^[1]

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