Mike Walsworth

Michael Arthur Walsworth, known as Mike Walsworth (born March 27, 1956), is an American real estate developer and politician from West Monroe, Louisiana. He is a Republican member of District 33 of the Louisiana State Senate, first elected in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 20, 2007.

He previously represented District 15 (Ouachita Parish) in the Louisiana House of Representatives until term-limited. Walsworth's Senate district includes Ouachita, Claiborne, Morehouse, Union, and West Carroll parishes. He defeated the Democratic State Representative Charles McDonald of the Fairbanks community in northern Ouachita Parish to succeed the term-limited Republican Senator Robert J. Barham of Oak Ridge in Morehouse Parish. Walsworth polled 17,292 (51.7 percent) to McDonald's 16,058 (48.3 percent). McDonald's House seat, to which he was term-limited, was narrowly won in the November 17, 2007, state election by a Republican, Sam Little, a retired farmer from Bastrop, the seat of Morehouse Parish.

In a 2013 committee meeting, a question which Walsworth raised, about the theory of evolution as it relates to E. Coli bacteria, caused his critics to claim that he lacks basic scientific knowledge. From 1984 to 1996, Walsworth was a member of the Louisiana Republican State Central Committee. On February 9, 2008, he sought to return to the committee to represent his former State Representative District 15 berth. But he withdrew his candidacy two days before the closed primary election, and the position went by default to M. Randall "Randy" Donald. Walsworth was first elected to the state House in the 1995 primary when he unseated two-term Democrat Charles Anding of West Monroe and assumed the seat in 1996.

Walsworth was born to Leo Walsworth and his wife Lila "Tootsie" Kitchens (1921–2007) in West Monroe adjacent to Monroe in Ouachita Parish. His maternal grandparents, Marshall and Emily Kitchens, operated a grocery store in Monroe.

Walsworth was graduated from West Monroe High School in 1974. Thereafter, he procured a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Louisiana at Monroe (then Northeast Louisiana University).

Walsworth is a real estate developer by profession. He previously worked in the management of Coca-Cola. He is affiliated with the Greater Ouachita Lions Club, American Red Cross, Boys and Girls Clubs, Civitan Club, Big Brothers, Big Sisters, and American Heart Association. He is also involved in the United Way of America, National Rifle Association, and the ULM Alumni Association.

In the legislature, Walsworth worked to establish the Ouachita Port Commission and the Ouachita Expressway Commission. He authored a law that renders video voyeurism illegal in Louisiana. He worked on the Ethics Reform Bill to prohibit lawmakers from doing business with the state. He also worked to pass tort reform in his first legislative session. He has pushed for funding of rural schools, which abound in House District 15 and Senate District 33. In his initial election to the House, Walsworth defeated Charles Anding, 7,745 (55 percent) to 6,403 (45 percent). In 1999, with 9,060 votes (67 percent), Walsworth defeated Democrat Royce Calhoun, who had 4,441 votes (33 percent), to win a second term in the House. Walsworth was unopposed in 2003 for his third and final term in the House.

In 2013, Walsworth joined State Representative Rob Shadoin of Ruston to rename the Louisiana Highway 33 bridge over Lake D’Arbonne in Farmerville after Representative James Peyton Smith of Union Parish. James Peyton Smith had died in 2006.

2015 reelection campaign

To remain in the state Senate, Walsworth faced opposition in the nonpartisan blanket primary scheduled for October 24, 2015, from his intra-party rival, former U.S. Representative Vance McAllister.

Walsworth handily turned back McAllister's challenge, 15,891 votes (62.3 percent) to 9,626 (37.7 percent).

In January 2016, Senate President John Alario appointed Walsworth chairman of the Environment Committee.

Walsworth is the song leader at a local Church of Christ. He is the father of one daughter, Lindsay Michelle Walsworth.