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Another candidate has emerged in the race for the Terrebonne Parish presidency.
He’s a familiar face in the local sports scene and a man who thinks he can bring a “common sense” approach to government.
David McCormick announced this week that he is running for the parish’s top political office, opposing incumbent Gordon Dove and challenger (and former Terrebonne Parish President) Michel Claudet — both who’ve publicly announced their intentions to run.
If McCormick’s name sounds familiar, it’s likely because he’s also the head football coach at Ellender. Before that, he was a longtime assistant coach at South Terrebonne.
McCormick has never held political office. He applied for and received strong consideration to be the TPR Director last year before Roddy Lerille got the nomination.
He said he’s running for the “common man”, adding that he’s happy with the reception he’s received from folks in the community since announcing his run.
“For the better part of a decade, I’ve noticed that the voice of the common man is not heard in our local parish government,” McCormick said this weekend. “Only the voices and the interests of the local political machine get heard. And I don’t think that’s the way it should be. So I got with my wife and decided that I could be that voice for the common man, because I believe those people are the heart and soul of a community. So we’re going to give it our best shot.”
McCormick laid out some of his reasons for running in about a 15-minute interview on Saturday morning.
He said he wants to be involved in the business community in his effort to fix a local economy that’s be in somewhat of a funk over the past half-decade because of the topsy turvy price of oil.
“I want to attract new businesses to Terrebonne Parish. We would love to see some diversity in our local economy,” McCormick said. “We want to give incentives to businesses to get them to invest their time and money here and show them why Terrebonne Parish is a great place to live.”
Naturally, McCormick said a lot of his platform revolves around the kids.
A teacher in the Terrebonne Parish School System for the past two-plus decades, McCormick said he’s been talking to citizens over the past several months, adding that “there are so many concerns about our youth.”
He plans to attempt to start parish-run job training programs around the parish to try and train teenagers to become skilled in the trades that they’re going to chase in their future careers.
“Let’s face it,” McCormick said. “College is not for everyone. It’s better for us to train our kids in high school and get them ready for what they want to do. This way, we can give them hope and show them that they can make an honest living. I think that’s going to be great for our area.”
So, to the elephant in the room: Will running for a political office affect McCormick and his ability to coach Ellender’s football team to the best of his ability this fall?
He sincerely thinks he can do both.
McCormick said he’s at school during the day, then at practice until 5:30 or 6 p.m. every day.
“I usually get home around 7,” he said.
When he gets home, McCormick plans the campaign trail hard, going to communities and meeting as many people as he can to try and let citizens know that there is now a third candidate in the race.
“We will hit the neighborhoods hard and it’s going to be hectic,” McCormick said. “But look, I don’t like idle time. I like to be busy. I’m the type of guy that if I sit on the couch for more than 20-30 minutes at a time, I start to get antsy. So this is going to be good for me, and I’m loving the response we’re getting. And it’s all over the parish, too. Not just on the Eastside. I think people are ready for a change, and we may be able to be that for them.” •
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