Clyde C. Holloway

Clyde Cecil Holloway
Holloway during his congressional tenure
Louisiana Public Service Commissioner
Incumbent
Assumed office 2009
Preceded by	Dale Sittig
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana's 8th district
In office January 3, 1987 – January 3, 1993
Preceded by	Catherine Small Long
Succeeded by	District abolished through redistricting
Personal details
Born	November 28, 1943 Lecompte Rapides Parish Louisiana, USA
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Catherine F. "Cathie" Holloway (born 1943)
Children	Timothy A. Holloway (b. 1969) Mark R. Holloway (b. 1971) Rebecca L. Holloway (b. 1975) Sara E. Holloway (b. 1979)
Parents	James Cecil Holloway Ever Christina Barker Holloway
Residence	Forest Hill in Rapides Parish
Occupation	Businessman
Religion	Southern Baptist[1]

Clyde Cecil Holloway (born November 28, 1943) is an American politician, small business owner and member of the Republican Party who currently serves as one of five members of the Louisiana Public Service Commission. He previously served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from the since defunct Alexandria-based 8th congressional district from 1987 to 1993 and was the first Republican in the 20th century to represent the northern part of the state in Congress.

Holloway won three consecutive elections to the U.S. House from a historically Democratic district. He ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Louisiana in 1991, finishing fourth in the blanket primary. After redistricting in 1992, his district was abolished and he ran in the 6th congressional district against fellow Republican incumbent Richard Baker, narrowly losing in the runoff. He ran unsuccessful campaigns for the 7th congressional district in 1994, the 5th congressional district in 1996 and 2002 and for Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana in 2003.

Holloway served as Louisiana state director for the Office of Rural Development in the U.S. Department of Agriculture from October 2006 to January 2009, then running in a special election for the Louisiana Public Service Commission in April, which he won.^[2] He was re-elected unopposed in 2010. Holloway is also a former member of the Louisiana Republican State Central Committee from the 27th Representative District.

On August 21, 2013, Holloway filed to run in the special election for Louisiana's 5th congressional district following the resignation of Congressman Rodney Alexander. Holloway came in fourth in the jungle primary. Holloway's name has appeared twelve times on a Louisiana congressional ballot. He first ran for Congress in 1980, won his first term in 1986, and last ran in 2013. He has run in four different congressional districts and won three of eleven races for the U.S. House, two of which required runoffs.

On August 22, 2014, Holloway filed in the remaining minutes available to run in the nonpartisan blanket primary for the regular 5th congressional district election held on November 4. This marked his fifth attempt to return to Congress since his defeat in 1992. He finished fifth in the contest with 17,875 votes (7.5 percent). The short-term incumbent, Vance McAllister, whom Holloway had endorsed in the special election runoff in 2013, finished fourth with 26,605 votes (11.1 percent). The Republican candidate, Ralph Lee Abraham, Jr., a physician and former veterinarian from Mangham in Richland Parish, won in a runoff vote against Democrat Jamie Mayo.^[3]

Clyde Holloway currently serves on the Louisiana Public Service Commission. He assumed Commissionership on April 27, 2009. His current term expires on December 31, 2016 and he is expected to face tight competition for the seat from a Democratic challenger.

Early life and career

Holloway is one of seven children born in the small town of Lecompte in Rapides Parish^[4] to James Cecil Holloway (October 15, 1909 – September 26, 2006), formerly from Arizona, and the former Ever Christina Barker (December 7, 1912 – December 11, 2006). The Holloways later moved to Forest Hill just west of Lecompte and south of Alexandria, the largest city in central Louisiana. James Holloway earned his livelihood as an electrician at Camp Claiborne and was later employed at the Meeker Sugar Cooperative. He retired as a Rapides Parish school bus driver. The senior Holloways were married for seventy-one years; he preceded her in death by some ten weeks. Mrs. Holloway was the daughter of Charlie and Emma Barker. The senior Holloways are interred at Butters Cemetery in Forest Hill.

Clyde Holloway attended the National Aeronautics School in Kansas City, Kansas. His Clyde Holloway Nursery is one of the oldest and largest commercial horticultural nurseries in Forest Hill, generating some $1.7 million in gross receipts annually.

Another nurseryman in Forest Hill is Robert W. Bates, a former agent of the United States Secret Service.^[5]

Holloway is a former chairman of the board of the private Forest Hill Academy, originally Forest Hill Neighborhood School.

He and his wife, Catherine F. "Cathie" Holloway (also born 1943), have four children, Timothy A. Holloway (born 1969), Mark R. Holloway (born 1971), Rebecca L. Holloway (born 1975), and Sara E. Holloway (born 1979), and five grandchildren, Caleb, John Thomas and Ava Holloway and Faith and Evan Ebert. Holloway is a member of the Elwood Baptist Church in Forest Hill, but Mrs. Holloway is Roman Catholic. One of his brothers, Charlie David Holloway (born 1941), is a former member of the Rapides Parish School Board.

U.S. House of Representatives

1980 election

Holloway first ran for Congress in 1980 against Democratic incumbent Gillis William Long. Holloway depicted himself as a Reaganite and a conservative and as an opponent of Republican U.S. District Judge Nauman Scott's cross-parish school busing orders, because the busing would have effectively destroyed the local public school, a nucleaus and critical unifying factor in their small rural town of Forest Hill. Holloway summarized his opposition to forced busing by pointing out that "parents of both black and white children opposed the forced busing and he saw the fight as essentially being about the "right of a small, rural community like Forest Hill to exist." Robert Henry Mitchell (born 1945), also of Forest Hill, the Republican loser to Long in the 1978 race, ran again. Long prevailed with 75,433 votes (68.9 percent) to Holloway's 27,816 (25.4 percent) and Mitchell's 6,243 (5.7 percent).

As it turned out, Holloway was laying the groundwork in the 1980 campaign for his eventual three elections to the U.S. House. Holloway and Long were actually both residents of Rapides Parish so many were stunned when Holloway actually defeated the long-time powerful incumbent Long in their home parish.

In January 1981, Holloway, along with State Representative Woody Jenkins, an unsuccessful candidate for the U.S. Senate on three occasions, spoke at a rally in Alexandria to voice support of two proposed constitutional amendments, which have never come to fruition. One sought to ban forced school busing for purposes of racial integration. Another called for the election of federal judges, rather than appointment by the president and confirmation by the U.S. Senate. At the rally, Holloway said "the only way Americans can turn around and go in the right direction is if middle-class people like us will show ... how we feel."^[6]

1985 special election

In 1985, Gillis Long died on the day of Reagan's second inauguration. A special election was held on March 30 to fill out his term, and Holloway entered the race as the lone Republican candidate. Long's widow, Catherine Small Long^[7] and Alexandria attorney John W. "Jock" Scott, a State Representative in his third and final term, also ran. "Cathy" Long, a native of Dayton, Ohio, was a landslide winner, with 59,836 votes (55.4 percent). Scott finished second with 26,573 (24.6 percent), and Holloway trailed with 17,920 votes (16.6 percent).^[8]

Bill Dodd, an astute observer of Louisiana politics, called Cathy Long "the perfect political wife." She once told the Alexandria Daily Town Talk that a U.S. representative's main responsibility is to bring as much national funding home to the congressional district as possible, a view at odds with those conservatives who abhor pork-barrel spending. She did not seek the seat for a full term in 1986.

1986 election

In 1986, in his third attempt to gain a seat in Congress, Holloway was the lone Republican in the nonpartisan blanket primary to succeed Mrs. Long in the majority African-American district.^[9] His principal opponent was E. Faye Williams, an African-American woman attorney from Alexandria who supported abortion and expanded social programs. Had she won, Williams would have been the first African American to represent Louisiana since Reconstruction.

The other contenders were Morgan Godeau, State Senator Joe Sevario of Prairieville in Ascension Parish, and Carson K. Killen, of St. Amant, also in Ascension Parish. Killen had been an aide to Gillis Long and had been groomed as Long's long-term successor.^[7] Killen was later elected to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and was the executive director of the Louisiana Police Jury (the equivalent of a county commission in other states) Association. Williams led Holloway in the primary, 46,025 (26 percent) to 41,618 (23 percent), a margin of 4,407 votes. Goudeau was third with 36,304 ballots (20 percent), followed by Sevario with 34,847 votes (19 percent), and Killen with 21,116 votes (11.8 percent).^[10]

Polls indicated that Williams would defeat Holloway in the general election in part because the district was 90 percent historically Democratic. High turnout, particularly in the large black community, was expected to benefit Williams. Holloway, however, pulled an upset. He received 102,276 votes (51.4 percent) to Williams' 96,864 (48.6 percent). He was heavily dependent on his native Rapides and neighboring Avoyelles parishes.^[11]

Holloway was estimated to have received 73 percent of the ballots of whites and 1 percent of the black vote. Williams would presumably have won if she had received 29 or 30 percent of the white vote, instead of the 27 percent that she obtained. Williams was damaged by reports that while previously living as a community organizer in Los Angeles, California, her estranged black husband, a news reporter, had murdered a white man, a college professor and radio announcer with whom he believed Williams was romantically involved.^[12] Holloway appeared to play into the racialized politics, giving an interview on the eve of the election that discussed Dr Williams' violent assault and suggested she was a communist.^[13]

In the same election cycle that Holloway was elected to the U.S. Congress, another Republican, Richard Hugh Baker of Baton Rouge, won a U.S. House seat. Holloway and Baker would be only the fourth and fifth Republicans to have served in the U.S. House from Louisiana since Reconstruction, following David C. Treen in 1973, Henson Moore (Baker's predecessor) in 1975 and Bob Livingston in 1977. However, Holloway and Baker were only the second and third Republicans to win an undisputed victory in a contested election. Holloway was also the first Republican to represent north Louisiana since Reconstruction.

1988 election

In 1988, Williams and Holloway, as the two leaders in the primary, again squared off in the general election. Holloway was helped in the second round of voting by the presence of the successful Republican presidential nominee, Vice President George H. W. Bush, who won the state by a comfortable margin. This time, Holloway defeated Williams, 116,241 votes (56.8 percent) to her 88,564 (43.2 percent).^[14] After her defeats, Williams left Alexandria and relocated to Washington, D.C. Other candidates in the 1988 primary were former Alexandria Mayor John K. Snyder, who received only 1,205 votes (less than 1 percent), as his controversial political career continued to unravel, and former Lieutenant Governor Robert "Bobby" Freeman, who received 14,814 votes (11 percent).^[15]

1990 election

In 1990, Holloway defeated two State Senators in the primary, Cleo Fields, an African American from Baton Rouge, and the previously mentioned Joe McPherson, Jr., of Holloway's own Rapides Parish. Holloway polled 113,607 votes (56.4 percent) to 59,511 (29.6 percent) for Fields, and 28,170 (14 percent) for McPherson.^[16] Oddly though McPherson had many successful elections for state senator, he lost both congressional and Public Service Commission races to Holloway, who has won fewer than half of the contest which he has entered.

1991 gubernatorial election

Holloway's three consecutive House victories, two with more than 55 percent of the vote, made him feel secure in running for governor in 1991; he could run statewide in an off-year from congressional races without surrendering his House seat. He won the endorsement of state Republican delegates against the sitting Republican governor, Buddy Roemer, who had been elected as a Democrat in 1987 in the primary. In the 1991 primary, Holloway finished fourth, with 82,683 (5.3 percent) but did place ahead of Roemer in Evangeline and St. Landry parishes.^[17] One reason that Holloway supporters rejected Roemer was the outgoing governor's support for abortion. Previously considered pro-life, Roemer reversed himself and vetoed three bills which would have restricted access to abortion in Louisiana. Two decades later, Roemer made a bid for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination but polled few primary votes and then left the Republican Party.

Instead, the 1991 gubernatorial general election featured unendorsed Republican David Duke and former Governor Edwin Edwards. Holloway refused to endorse either Duke or Edwards, who won a landslide victory for a fourth term in part because the third-place candidate, Roemer, endorsed Edwards in the showdown with Duke, who was unpopular because of his Ku Klux Klan ties to the "Radical Right."

1992 election

After his gubernatorial loss, Holloway mapped plans in 1992 to seek re-election to Congress. Louisiana lost a congressional district as a result of the 1990 census, and Holloway's Alexandria-based Eighth District was eliminated. His home in Forest Hill was drawn into a revised Sixth District stretching from Baton Rouge on the south to Alexandria on the north. He faced two opponents, fellow Republican Representative Richard Baker and the Democratic mayor of Alexandria, Edward Gordon "Ned" Randolph, Jr. Holloway led in the nonpartisan blanket primary with 52,012 votes (37 percent) to Baker's 46,990 (33 percent), and Randolph's 42,819 (30 percent).^[18]

In the general election held on the day of the presidential election, Holloway won fifteen of seventeen parishes in the new district. However, Baker polled clear majorities in the two largest parishes of Livingston and his home base, East Baton Rouge. That was enough for Baker to win the seat, 123,953 votes (50.6 percent) to Holloway's 121,225 (49.5 percent). Had Holloway been able to hold down Baker's margin in Baker's home parish of East Baton Rouge, he would have secured a fourth House term.^[19]

The Sixth Congressional District had been drawn so that the winner was likely to have been a Republican. Black residents of the surrounding area had been placed into the majority African-American Fourth Congressional District, but only temporarily. (Ironically, that district was won by Cleo Fields, Holloway's unsuccessful opponent in 1990.) Tens of thousands of Democrats in the once historically Democratic Sixth District were forced through the nonpartisan blanket primary to choose between two Republican candidates for Congress or to skip that race on the ballot. Baker was only slightly less conservative than Holloway, but Democratic voters apparently saw him as the lesser of two evils. Such a dilemma for Democrats was not what Edwards had in mind when he fashioned the nonpartisan blanket primary some fifteen years earlier. Edwards had generally expected Republicans to be sitting on the sidelines and having to choose from two unacceptable Democrats.

Tenure

In the U.S. House, Holloway was considered a "protectionist" and an opponent of "free trade" policies, which he believed to have contributed to economic troubles in Louisiana. Unlike Long, however, he was an ardent fiscal and social conservative. He voted to cut government spending. He was skeptical of international organizations that he felt undermined American sovereignty. His voting record consistently reflected his middle class beliefs. He advocated rolling back "big government" by cutting taxes and also wanted to restore school prayer and end abortion.

Unsuccessful Elections

1994 congressional election

Holloway waged further determined campaigns to return to Congress. In the heavily Republican year of 1994, he moved to the Lafayette-based Louisiana's 7th congressional district in southwestern Louisiana to oppose Democratic Representative Jimmy Hayes. Hayes polled 72,424 votes (53 percent) to Holloway's 54,253 (39.7 percent). Another 7.3 percent of voters supported a candidate who ran as "No party."^[20] Hayes surprised many observers by becoming a Republican himself in 1995.

1996 congressional election

In 1996, Holloway entered the race for the revised (again) Fifth District, which covers the northeast quadrant of Louisiana, stretching to south of Alexandria to include his Forest Hill residence. Holloway ran third in the primary to fellow Republican John Cooksey, a Monroe ophthalmologist, and Democratic State Representative and later State Senator Francis C. Thompson, a popular large landowner in Delhi in Richland Parish.

Cooksey polled 60,853 ballots (34 percent) to Holloway's 48,226 (27 percent). Thompson, with 50,144 votes (28 percent), hence went into the 1996 general election with Cooksey. Two other Republican candidates, Ben Marshall and Tim Robinson, polled more than 12,000 critical primary votes, some potentially at Holloway's expense. Holloway's weak showing in Ouachita Parish, fewer than five thousand votes, kept him from proceeding to the second round of balloting,^[21] just as his weak showing in East Baton Rouge Parish had doomed him in 1992. Thwarted once more, Holloway endorsed Cooksey, with whom he shared a similar conservative philosophy, and helped him to raise money. Cooksey in turn won the seat handily, 135,990 (58.3 percent) to the more liberal Thompson's 97,363 (41.7 percent).^[22] Cooksey served three terms before leaving the House.

2002 congressional election

When Cooksey decided to run for the U.S. Senate against Democrat Mary Landrieu in 2002, Holloway entered the race to succeed him in the House. For a time, Holloway appeared strong. He had the support of the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Dennis Hastert of Illinois, and the Majority Whip, Tom DeLay of Texas. But he finished third in the nonpartisan blanket primary with 42,573 votes (23 percent). Leading the pack was the eventual winner, Democrat Rodney Alexander, with 52,952 votes (29 percent). Newcomer Dewey Lee Fletcher, a Republican advertising entrepreneur from Monroe, who had previously been an aide to Cooksey and died early in life, finished second in the primary with 45,278 (25 percent). A switch of 2,705 votes from Fletcher to Holloway would have placed Holloway in the second round of balloting against Alexander. A fourth candidate, Republican State Senator Robert J. Barham of Oak Ridge in Morehouse Parish, had 34,533 votes (19 percent). Three other candidates shared the remaining but critical 9,000 votes (5 percent).^[23]

Alexander then defeated Fletcher in the general election by only 974 votes, 86,718 (50.3 percent) to 85,744 (49.7 percent).^[24] Holloway's unexpected endorsement of Alexander may have been the decisive movement of the campaign: he could not be Congressman again, but he could choose between the two general election candidates and anoint the narrow winner. There were also reports cited as the "Clyde Factor" that many Holloway supporters in Rapides Parish, particularly Alexandria, voted for Alexander primarily to thwart young Fletcher, given Fletcher's negative and misleading false campaign tactics the final hours leading to the primary election.

The seat stayed in Democratic hands for less than two years, however. In the summer of 2004, Alexander switched to the Republican Party only minutes before the filing deadline, thus depriving Holloway, or any other serious challenger, of a chance of running against him in that year's election. It was Holloway's rival from 1985, Jock Scott, a Democrat-turned-Republican, who decided to take on Alexander that year but with little promise.

2003 Lieutenant Governor election

In 2003, Holloway ran for Lieutenant Governor but was defeated by the Democrat Mitch Landrieu, younger brother of Senator Mary Landrieu. He originally ran on an intraparty ticket with the then-chairman of the PSC, Jay Blossman, of St. Tammany Parish. When Blossman withdrew from the gubernatorial race in light of weak poll numbers, Holloway remained a candidate for Lieutenant Governor. He polled 249,668 votes (19 percent) to Landrieu's 674,803 (53 percent). The other 28 percent was shared by several other candidates, including the late African-American businessman Kirt Bennett of Baton Rouge and Melinda Schwegmann,^[25] a former Democratic Lieutenant Governor (1992–1996) serving as a State Representative who switched in 2003 to the Republican Party. Announcing his candidacy only one month prior to the election and spending less than $10,000, Holloway still scored majorities in La Salle, Caldwell, and West Carroll parishes, which are all sparsely populated areas in north Louisiana. He scored pluralities in Avoyelles and Evangeline parishes,^[25] both from his defunct Eighth Congressional District.

Rural Development Director

On October 19, 2006, Holloway was named Louisiana state director for the Office of Rural Development in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In making the appointment, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, currently a U.S. Senator from Nebraska, said that Holloway, who had been a member of the House Agriculture Committee during his six years in Congress, "brings a wealth of knowledge to USDA." The agency seeks to increase economic opportunity and to improve the quality of life in rural communities. The agency has invested some $72 billion since 2001 to provide equity and technical assistance to finance and foster growth in homeownership, business development, and critical community and technology infrastructure. The agency claims to have created or saved some 1.2 million jobs nationwide. The Holloway appointment expired on January 20, 2009, with the incoming Barack Obama administration.^[26]

Public Service Commissioner

In 2009, Holloway emerged the plurality leader in a special election for the Public Service Commission post vacated by the resignation of Dale Sittig of Eunice. The other candidate in the runoff, which had been scheduled for May 2, Democratic State Senator Joe McPherson, of Woodworth, formerly from Pineville, no longer a legislator, dropped out on April 13. Holloway narrowly led a three-candidate field in the special election held on April 4. McPherson had lost the previous regular PSC election to Sittig. Democrat-turned-Republican Gil Pinac, a hospital administrator and a former state representative from Crowley in Acadia Parish, finished a weak third in the April 4 balloting. McPherson explained his concession as an anticipation that most of Pinac's supporters would switch to Holloway and give the Republican an insurmountable lead. Holloway polled 32,258 votes (43.5 percent) to McPherson's 31,610 (42.63 percent). Pinac trailed with the critical 10,280 ballots (13.86 percent). McPherson's greatest strength was in populous Calcasieu Parish, where he led with 11,178 (50.4 percent) to Holloway's 7,873 (35.5 percent), and Pinac's 3,127 (14.1 percent). Ironically, Holloway's tabulation in Calcasieu – centered on Lake Charles – was also his single greatest parish total. Rapides Parish, the home of both candidates, voted in a low turnout: 6,527 for Holloway to 5,327 for McPherson, and 791 for Pinac.^[27]

As results were still being tabulated, Pinac conceded and endorsed Holloway.^[28] Republican Governor Jindal had raised funds for the Democrat McPherson, but had otherwise been silent on the PSC race.^[29]

Numerous people described McPherson, a businessman, as "anti-business", and the state Republican Party endorsed Holloway. Thus the runoff would have pitted the Republican committee's pick, Holloway, against the beneficiary of Republican Governor Bobby Jindal's fundraising largesse, McPherson. By withdrawing, McPherson removed a political embarrassment for Jindal.^[30] Meanwhile, the Jindal-endorsed Lee Domingue lost the special election for a Louisiana State Senate seat on April 4 to another Republican, Dan Claitor, scion of the Claitor's Publishing Company of Baton Rouge.^[31]

In replacing Democrat Sittig, Holloway's addition to the PSC (even including the forerunner Louisiana Railroad Commission) gave the body its first-ever Republican majority. Commissioners Scott Angelle and Eric Skrmetta are, like Holloway, Republican; and the PSC has just five seats. The Democratic PSC members are Foster Campbell of Bossier City (an unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate against Jindal in 2007) and Lambert C. Boissiere, III. The PSC is also the first electoral body in Louisiana to develop a Republican majority since Reconstruction.^[32]

Holloway was unopposed for a full term on the PSC in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on August 28, 2010. On July 13, 2010, Holloway noted as a guest on The Moon Griffon Show, based in Monroe, that the August 28 contest was his first ever unopposed race and his thirteenth time to appear on a ballot.^[33]

2013 congressional election

Holloway shocked political observers on August 21, 2013, when he filed to run in Louisiana's 5th congressional district special election held on October 19, to choose a successor to Republican Rodney Alexander, who resigned from Congress on September 26. Holloway said that his candidacy for the seat was motivated by suspicions that Alexander and Governor Bobby Jindal attempted to engineer the election of Republican State Senator Neil Riser of Columbia to succeed Alexander,^[34] who became the director of the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs in the Jindal administration. Holloway said: "This thing stinks ... I feel like we tried to have an appointed congressman by the governor and by Rodney... Without any doubt, I think they've been orchestrating this for months."^[35][36]

Early in the campaign, Holloway endorsed President Barack Obama's call for American military intervention in Syria, a position in sharp contrast to that of several opponents, including fellow Republican rivals Riser and Jay Morris,^[37] a state representative from Monroe, who finished the race in a weak sixth place.^[38]

Holloway finished in fourth place in the special election with 11,250 votes (11 percent). He polled a plurality only in St. Landry Parish and finished second in his own Rapides Parish, where Riser led the balloting. The top two candidates overall, Riser (32 percent) and the Monroe-area businessman and political newcomer Vance McAllister (18 percent),^[38] met in the runoff election on November 16. Holloway endorsed McAllister, who won the runoff.^[39]

2014 congressional race

Holloway campaign sign (2014) in Lecompte, Louisiana

In filing once again for Congress, Holloway said that he considers himself the only candidate who can defeat McAllister, whose reputation was damaged by a scandal earlier this year when a video was published showing the married congressman kissing a former female staffer and the wife of a friend of McAllister's. He said: "I was disappointed in McAllister and still am. He had a golden opportunity and blew it. We need someone who can serve the district with integrity, and I believe I'm the best one for the job."^[40]

In the November 4th election, Clyde Holloway received 7.46% of the vote.^[41] The district was ultimately settled in a runoff election between Republican Ralph Abraham and Democrat Jamie Mayo. In the runoff, Ralph Abraham won with 64.2% of the vote.^[42]

PSC tenure

Holloway was elected to the Louisiana Public Service Commission on April 4, 2009 and assumed the role on April 27, 2009. His current term ends on December 31, 2016.^[43] He indicated that he will seek another full term in the 2016 election. He is expected to receive a tough challenge from a Democratic candidate.

On January 22, 2015, Holloway was named by his colleagues as the chairman of the PSC for the next two years. Holloway said he will work in the next two years to make "certain that infrastructure needed for industry growth is in place without an adverse effect on ratepayers." He noted that Louisiana has the lowest electrical utility residential rates in the nation, and "I want to work to make certain we maintain that advantage."^[44] However, Holloway has faced criticism in the last three years for failing to expand Louisiana's limited cap on net metering, the program that allows customers to receive a one-for-one credit for the excess power they produce, which their neighbors use. A 2014 poll found that almost all Louisianans (92%) agree that customers deserve to continue receiving retail credit for the energy they produce under net metering.^[45]

On March 28, 2016, Holloway was the only dissenting public service commissioner to oppose the sale of Cleco, an energy company based in Pineville, to a group of foreign investors: Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets, British Columbia Investment Management Corporation, John Hancock Financial, and other infrastructure investors. In his opposition, Holloway expressed fear for "the long term consequences of Cleco's captive ratepayers. Cleco as we know it has ceased to exist. It is now owned by a private foreign investment company that plans to flip it in eight to ten years. And that same private foreign investment company is financing the deal with a massive amount of debt and ratepayers’ tax money. ...I am proud of my 'No' vote and will continue to work hard for those folks who can't walk away."^[46]

See also

References

1. Holloway is a Baptist. His wife is a Roman Catholic, and their children were raised in the Catholic faith, having become alumni of Loyola University New Orleans.
2. "Senator drops out of runoff for PSC", New Orleans Times-Picayune, April 14, 2009, p. B2.
3. "Louisiana Secretary of State - Congressional Election Results". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
4. "Clyde C. Holloway in Biographical Directory of the United States Congress". bioguide.congress.gov. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
5. "Tom Kelly, Winnfield opens Civic Center with Hall of Fame event: Renovated forestry building is modern, ready to serve for years into the future, January 2005". The Piney Woods Journal. Retrieved December 3, 2013.
6. "Hundreds rally in Alexandria", Minden Press-Herald, January 15, 1981, p. 1
7. "Gillis Long Biography". lib.lsu.edu. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
8. "Results for Election Date: March 30, 1985". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
9. Jet Magazine. September 21, 1992. Vol 82, Number 22. Page 6.
10. "Results for Election Day: September 27, 1986". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
11. "Results for Election Day: November 4, 1986". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
12. "How the Media Trashed Faye Williams". skeptictank.org. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
13. Clendinen, Dudley (October 31, 1986). "Politics Gets Personal in Louisiana's 8th District".
14. "Results for Election Date: November 8, 1988". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
15. "Results for Election Day: October 1, 1988". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
16. "Results for Election Date: October 6, 1990". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
17. "Office Results for Election Date: October 19, 1991". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
18. "Results for Election Day: October 3, 1992". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
19. "Results for Election Date: November 3, 1992". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
20. "Results for Election Date: October 1, 1994". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
21. "Results for Election Date: September 21, 1996". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
22. "Results for Election Date: November 5, 1996". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
23. "Results for Election Date: November 5, 2002". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
24. "Results for Election Date: December 7, 2002". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
25. "Results for Election Date: October 4, 2003". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
26. "Holloway appointed to head rural development efforts in Louisiana," Colfax Chronicle (Grant Parish, Louisiana), October 19, 2006
27. State of Louisiana, Secretary of State, Special election returns for the Louisiana Public Service Commission, April 4, 2009
28. "Robert Morgan, "Holloway, McPherson go into May PSC runoff", April 5, 2009". Alexandria Daily Town Talk. Retrieved April 5, 2009.
29. The Moon Griffon Show, radio broadcast, April 1, 2009
30. The Moon Griffon Show, April 7, 2009.
31. Jindal-backed candidate loses state Senate race, Lafayette Advertiser, April 7, 2009
32. A majority of the U.S. House delegation from Louisiana has been Republican since the 1990s. Democrats hold only one of the six House seats from Louisiana. Both houses of the Louisiana State Legislature gained their first Republican majorities in 2011.
33. The Moon Griffon Show, July 13, 2010
34. "Michelle Millhollon, Fourteen sign up for 5th congressional district run". Baton Rouge Morning Advocate. Retrieved August 21, 2013.
35. Deslatte, Melinda (August 21, 2013). "14 candidates in 5th District congressional race". Charlotte Observer. Retrieved August 22, 2013.
36. "Fourteen qualify for 5th Congressional District seat". Nola.com. August 21, 2013. Retrieved August 22, 2013.
37. "5th District candidates take positions on possible U.S. strike on Syria, September 3, 2013". Monroe News Star. Retrieved September 9, 2013.
38. "U. S. Representative -- 5th Congressional District". lasos.blob.core.windows.net. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
39. McGaughy, Lauren (2013-11-05). "Holloway endorses McAllister ahead of 5th Congressional District election". Times-Picayune (New Orleans). Retrieved 2013-11-10.
40. Greg Hilburn (August 22, 2014). "Blockbuster field set for 5th District race". Alexandria Town Talk. Retrieved August 23, 2014.
41. "Louisiana Secretary of State - Congressional Election Results". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
42. "Louisiana Secretary of State - Congressional Election Results". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
43. ":: LPSC District 4 ::". www.lpsc.louisiana.gov. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
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