Mitch Theriot

Mitchell "Mitch" Theriot​
Louisiana State Representative for District 54 (Jefferson and Lafourche parishes)​
In office 1992​ – 2000​
Preceded by	Jessie P. Guidry ​
Succeeded by	Loulan J. Pitre, Jr.
Judge of the First Circuit Court of Appeals, District 1, Division B
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 1, 2013
Born	​ Reared in Golden Meadow in Lafourche Parish​​
Political party	Democrat-turned-Republican (2007)​​
Spouse(s)	Veronica Gautreaux Theriot
Children	Stuart Theriot Tyler Theriot Emilee Theriot Parents: Livingston and Barbara Theriot
Residence	Metairie, Jefferson Parish
Alma mater	Nicholls State University (Thibodaux) Loyola School of Law (New Orleans)​
Occupation	Attorney and Judge
Religion	Roman Catholic​

Mitchell Theriot, known as Mitch Theriot, is an attorney and judge who also served from 1992 to 2000 as a Democratic state representative for two terms for District 54 (Jefferson and Lafourche parishes). In 2007, he switched to Republican affiliation. and soon lost his bid to return to the state House.

He is the third son of Livingston and Barbara Theriot of Golden Meadow in Lafourche Parish. He and his wife, the former Veronica Gautreaux, a nurse for the Cardiovascular Institute of the South. The couple has three children, Stuart, Tyler, and Emilee Theriot.

In 2012, Theriot was elected to the First Circuit Court of Appeals, District 1, Division B for a term of ten years. Still a Republican, Theriot led in the primary on November 6, 2012, with 33.66 percent of the vote. Theroit then defeated Democrat William Dupont in the runoff election on December 8, 2012. Theriot polled 25,793 (53 percent) to Dupont's 22,783 (47 percent).

He elected to the legislature in 1991 to succeed Jessie P. Guidry, a Democrat. He won again in 1995. In the 1999 nonpartisan blanket primary for the legislature, Theriot was unseated after two terms in office by the Republican (later Independent) Loulan J. Pitre, Jr., an attorney who was born in 1961 in Cut-Off in Lafourche Parish. Pitre polled, 7,187 votes (51.5 percent) to 6,768 (48.5 percent). In 2003, Pitre again defeated Theriot by nearly the same total as he had in 1999, 7,618 (votes 52 percent) to 7,035 (48 percent). When Pitre declined to seek a third term in 2007, Theriot ran to reclaim the seat after an eight-year absence, but after his party switch, he lost to the Democrat Jerry "Truck" Gisclair of Larose in Lafourche Parish, a businessman and radio station broadcaster.

In 2007, Pitre declined to seek a third term and Gisclair in a runoff defeated newly-minted Republican Theriot. In the preceding primary on October 20, 2007, Theriot led with 4,797 votes (37 percent) to Gisclair 's 4,396 (33.8 percent). The balance was held by a second Democrat, John Melancon, Jr., with 3,821 votes (29.4 percent). In the general election in November 2007, Gisclair defeated Theriot by 121 votes, 4,128 (50.7 percent) to 4,007 (49.3 percent, in still another narrow race in the highly competitive district. Meanwhile, as Pitre completed his eight years in the legislature, Governor-elect Bobby Jindal named him to chair the Transition Advisory Group on Coastal Restoration and Flood Control.