BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Anthony Claude “Buddy” Leach Jr., who spent a term in the U.S. House and ran the budget committee in the Louisiana House before leading the state Democratic party, has died. The 88-year-old Leach died Saturday.
A statement by Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards did not include a cause of death. Leach was elected to the Louisiana House in 1968 and to the U.S. House in 1978 from the state’s 4th District along the state line with Texas.
The Democrat lost his reelection bid in 1980 to Buddy Roemer, who was at the time a Democrat also.
Leach spent one more term in the Louisiana House and was chairman of the Ways & Means Committee. He ran the state Democratic Party for two years starting in 2010.