On the recordSeptember 21, 2016
Mr. President, I rise to honor two of my longest serving staff members who have been tremendous team leaders in our office: David Doss, my State director, and Nicole Hebert, my deputy State director. They are both, sadly, departing the Senate later this month to start exciting new careers. Nicole Hebert started with our team when I was first running for the U.S. Senate in 2004. Nicole is a Lafayette native and a native of the Acadiana region--or, Cajun country, as it is known--which was a key battleground in our election in 2004, in part because we were running against a local Cajun candidate in our jungle primary who was supported by my predecessor who was also from Acadiana. With Nicole's help, we shocked the entire State that year, winning with over 50 percent of the vote in the primary, forgoing the need for any runoff and winning Acadiana against a Cajun candidate--and Nicole was a big, important part of that victory. Nicole and her husband Tommy and Nicole's parents Lynne and Joey Durel were all incredibly helpful then and ever since then in helping me navigate the region and have always made me--as a guy from southeast Louisiana--feel right at home in that important part of the State. Nicole, Tommy, and Lynne have all been on my staff at one point or another, and all of them were just great at helping me loosen up, take off my tie, and relax.…





