Michael Bergeron and Hal McMillin battle for title of Westlake mayor

Westlake, LA (KPLC) - Candidates Michael Bergeron and Hal McMillin are all in for another campaign run.

With a runoff election slated for Dec. 10, both candidates say they feel strongly about their campaign strategy moving forward.

“Make sure the people go out and support you and vote for you, you want to get your message out on things you want to do to help improve the quality of life in Westlake, so it’s a strategy but it’s a teamwork strategy and I got a good team behind me so I’m excited about that,” said McMillin.

“We’re still going to do the ground game, which is what we did initially, but we’re going to add an additional mailer and other things to reach as many people as we can because we do have a short amount of time between now and the next election” Bergeron said.

In the primary election, McMillin fell just short of victory with a total vote of 48 percent, while Bergeron received 37 percent.

Despite the results from the primary election, this runoff is a whole new race, and we asked each candidate what separates him from his competitor.

“I think what separates me is my experience from proven leadership back when I was president of the police jury during Hurricane Rita. Also 25 years of experience, I had five years on the Westlake City Council and 20 years on the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury,” McMillin said.

“I am the only one that has a military background, that served my country, and what makes me unique is I don’t just bring political leadership to the job as mayor but i also bring military leadership, so it’s a nice mix,” Bergeron said.

The winner will replace Bob Hardey, who died while in office.

Early voting for the election begins Nov. 26.

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