Hypolite Gaspard

Hypolite Gaspard
United States Senator from Louisiana
In office January 3, 1989 – January 3, 1995
Preceded by	J. Bennett Johnston, Jr.
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana's 7th District
In office January 3, 2000 – January 3, 2010
Preceded by	Not-Chris John
Succeeded by	Not- Boustany
Personal details
Born	Hypolite John Leland Gaspard October 10, 1944 Forked Island, Louisiana U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Angelle Gaspard (née Broussard)
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Navy
Years of service	1963-1964
Rank	Seaman Recruit

Hypolite Gaspard (Born October 10, 1944) is an American politician. He recently left retirement to campaign for the office of US Senator for the State of Louisiana.

Early Life

Hypolite was born in 1944 to Edval and Meaun Gaspard, 42 and 36. Edval hailed from Forked Island where the family resided while Meaun came from the faraway city of Erath. Both were devout Catholics and raised their twelve children to be so as well. The family mostly spoke french around the house and had trouble transitioning during school. By the time Meaun died, she still spoke little English.

The fourteen-member household lived in a three-bedroom shack, Hypolite's eight older brothers were either in school or in the military, while his two older sisters were married, and his two younger sisters were developing into fine young women. Hypolite's father, Edval was the ferry master on the Isle Maronne ferry, while his mother Meaun worked in the fields to assist with cotton picking. When it came to his studies, Hypolite was at the top of the family, his father had no schooling, nor could he read or write, while Hypolite's mother graduated fourth grade.

Hypolite continued to study until he graduated High School in 1962. After Graduating from E. Broussard High, he went and joined the navy. Tragedy struck a few months after joining, his father was diagnosed with cancer. Hypolite was honorably discharged from the navy and helped at home with his father until he died later that year. Hypolite began working in the various bars around the parish to help care for his mother and sisters.

In 1963, Hypolite met the love of his life, Angelle Broussard at the Fais-Do-Do. They were married at the end of that year, they used some of his navy checks to buy a two-bedroom home in Kaplan, and with much debate, he decided to use the GI Bill to go to the nearby LSU College and study Political Science. He graduated college in 1967 at the age of 23, and in June of that year, God blessed him with a daughter.

Mayoral Terms

By 1967, Hypolite had 3 children. He became the Vice President of The Republican Men's Group of Vermillion Parish, which was founded by a fellow graduate of E. Broussard, and with that title under his belt, Hypolite ran for Kaplan Mayor in 1968. He won and became one of the youngest mayors in Louisiana. He spent his first term desegregating the public pools of Kaplan, with little success, but did succeed in getting more funding for the colored schools in Kaplan.

By 1972, there was a drastic rate of crime among the colored population. He decided it was time to run a campaign election that would gain him popularity in Louisiana, Gaspard For All Colors! Was his slogan. He won a majority of the black vote but did little to help them in actuality. He was thrown much hatred from the large democratic groups around his Parish but won by a landslide in Kaplan, which was fairly moderate at the time.

Hypolite is known for petitioning the governor, his senator, and his representative, and many people claim he was a major piece to ending the ERA's lifeline in Louisiana and he's met Phyllis Schlafly many times.

U.S. Senator

After leaving the mayoral mansion, had two more kids and by the mid-eighties, he was ready to run again! He ran for US Representative of Louisiana's 7th District but lost. It was a major Democratic stronghold, and he conceded to a fellow Republican who the state party thought had better chances. They were wrong but still were sure to support Hypolite wholeheartedly in his future Senatorial Campaign. In 1989 he ran for US Senate and won.

He was very influential in many of the governor's decisions, he had the Republican Party and Legislature of the state under his finger, so it was simple to get the Democratic Governor to listen to Hypolites requests. for instance, he was a major voice in the debate against gay marriage in 1990 stating, "Louisianans aren't ready for that yet."

He worked with the opposition and convinced many other senators to pass the IDEA Act, not to mention his unwavering support of the FACT Act of 1990. He convinced 12 of the 21 co-sponsors to co-sponsor the HEART Act of 1993. Hypolite called his friends in many states and made the Gingrich Revolution of 1994 possible. Supposedly he was a member of a secret advisor group to the Republican governors during his time in office. Hypolite stayed in office until 1995.

Within his time in the Senate, he was a key Bipartisan, Moderate, Senator, and if something was passed that he didn't like, he would tell the world, famously telling a reporter. "Tell those damn monkeys, we don't want their fraudulent, foolish, and downright ignorant acts in our state!"

U.S. Representative

With his newfound popularity and fame, he took a five-year hiatus to regain his political strength, as well as deal with familial drama and strengthen his failing marriage. Tragedy struck again when his mother was killed in a car crash at age 92, in 2000. Knowing that she would want him to, Hypolite decided to run for US Representative again, the current senators had one year left to go, but Hypolite knew he couldn't wait, his mother's angel guided him along his campaign path.

Hypolite won, and yet again he was a key member in congress when it came to many decisions especially after the 9/11 attacks. In the late mid to late 2000, Hypolite was a major donor to the Bush Campaign just as he did in The First Bush Era. In 2001, an attack on our nation occurred, and after much planning, Hypolite co-sponsored the Patriot Act, which he knew would protect our nation.

In his second term from 2002-2004, Hypolite gained major success in assisting in unifying the congress, in which both had a Republican Majority.

Later in his third term from 2004-2006, Hypolite had a choice to make. A few other representatives contacted Hypolite with war records of the democratic nominee for president. Hypolite advised the group of representatives to leak the War Record. When confronted about this, he told news reporters, "Listen, folks, I was in the navy, I was there for a few months, I am honest, that democrat needs to be honest or crawl back into whatever crawfish hole he crawled out of."

In 2006, his own campaign came under attack, a woman named Jeanette Fitzgerald of Grand Chenier, Louisiana, claimed to have had his daughter. The people of Hypolite's district knew what type of a woman Jeanette was so they ignored her, Hypolite knew the truth, and that's why he paid her off until she died in 2014. Hypolite won his fourth term with 51% of the vote. Nothing major happened during this term, the issue came about in his fifth term.

Baharia Era

In Hypolite Gaspard's fifth term from 2008-2010, a black man won the presidency. Hypolite was enraged, he said some choice words to a reporter about how the democrats were taking over, who then swapped his words around and make him seem like a racist, Hypolite still had his supporters behind him, when he decided not to run for reelection in 2010 on account of how corrupt the government was becoming. Hypolite was an average southerner, who knew who to rally, and for what cause. He later decided to retire from politics for the foreseeable future.

2020 Senate Campaign

In 2019, Hypolite had a near-death experience, his doctors found a shadow in his lung only for it to be a benign tumor, in the hospital, Hypolite had a premonition of Louisiana and the country being run by democrats for the rest of Hypolites life, and he thought God was telling him to run for Senator again while he was still well and he did.

Hypolite began his campaign in late 2019 and campaigned incredibly hard. At the beginning of 2020, he started his 64 Parish Campaign tour, promising to give a word to the people in each parish of Louisiana. At the beginning of the race, he supported Nathaniel Richardson as the nominee for president, before retracting his endorsement after seeing Bernard Porter as the States Favorite candidate.

After a fierce blowout that damaged both the Richardson and Gaspard Campaign, Hypolite returned his endorsement to Richardson but has scarcely spoken of the Governor by name.

Hypolite is the likely Republican winner in the Blanket Primary and is expected to continue to the runoff election against Secretary Lawrence Bellman.

Personal Life

Hypolite is still married to Angelle Gaspard, and together they have five children. Melana Gaspard (56) Evariste Gaspard (54) Ulepse Gaspard (55) Maudry Gaspard (42) Lessiant Gaspard (39). Hypolite quit smoking in late 2019 but continues every once in a while.

Political Views

Hypolite is a Conservative. He considers himself as a True Conservative, open to bipartisanship. After the term of President Wolf, Hypolite has had to shift his views further to the right to stay relevant with Louisiana's far-right rhetoric. Anyone who was to meet him would know he is a very kind man, who is more moderate and smart than he lets on.