‘Very passionate, very principled’: St. Bernard state Rep. Mike Bayham dies

Mike Bayham, who represented St. Bernard Parish in the Louisiana House of Representatives, died Thursday, according to a statement from his family. He was 52 years old.

A lifelong Chalmette resident, Bayham had served House District 103 since January 2024. He held a seat on the St. Bernard Parish Council from 2001-04 and at the time was the youngest person elected to the office.    

Bayham got his start in state GOP politics in 1996 when he was elected to the Republican State Central Committee and remained a member for 30 years. He was secretary of the Louisiana Republican Executive Committee from 2008-12 and served as a presidential elector, which meant he cast a vote in the Electoral College on behalf of Louisiana, during 2008 and 2012 presidential elections. .

Bayham briefly acknowledged his health challenges in a social media post Saturday. Bayham’s legislative aide, Catherine Brinkman, sent out a followup email Wednesday stating he was “gravely ill and facing a serious health challenge.” 

Friends said Bayham considered his biggest professional triumph to be the recent approval of Constitutional Amendment 4, which establishes term limits for the Louisiana governor. It passed with 56% of the vote on the Nov. 3 ballot.

The measure, which Bayham authored during the 2026 legislative session, prevents a governor who has served one and one-half terms from running for the office again. Bayham had worked tirelessly over the past few months to gain voter approval, friends and colleagues said. 

“He considered it his political legacy,” said Susan East Nelson, a child welfare advocate who became close to Bayham when they were both LSU students in the 1990s.

A lifelong Republican, Bayham was known as an independent thinker with a passion for politics that began at an early age.

“His love for St. Bernard is unmatched,” Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser said in an interview Wednesday. 

State Rep. Brian Glorioso, R-Slidell, attended secondary school and college with the Chalmette representative. He recalls Bayham tracking down conservative talk radio personality Rush Limbaugh on a Bacchus Mardi Gras parade float in New Orleans in the 1980s when they were in middle school.

“I had no idea who Rush Limbaugh was when we were in seventh grade, but Mike knew who he was,” said Glorioso, who shared a fraternity house room with Bayham at LSU. “I don’t even know if I could find the talk radio station in my car.” 

Bayham was interested in meeting political figures of all types, several of his friends said. It’s apparent from Bayham’s extensive collection of photos he shared on social media of himself with some of the world’s most famous people. The shots include Bayham with former President Ronald Reagan, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Pope Leo XIV.

During their freshman year at LSU, Bayham dragged Glorioso out of bed early one morning in 1992 to drive to downtown Baton Rouge and meet Al Gore, who was then a candidate for vice president.

Bayham ran straight past the security barriers set up for Gore’s appearance and yelled out, “Hey, Al!” to get Gore’s attention. The future vice president stopped what he was doing and came over to talk to them, Glorioso said. 

A staunch Republican activist, Bayham enjoyed talking with people who held opposing views and had several decades-long friendships with Democrats.

“He was the king of Free Speech Alley,” said longtime friend Jason Redmond, referencing the area near LSU’s Student Union where students, faculty and staff have held political debates and demonstrations since the 1960s.

Redmond and Bayham met when they were working side-by-side booths for the Democratic and Republican parties at LSU in 1992. Redmond was supporting Bill Clinton for president, and Bayham was backing Republican Pat Buchanan, a conservative Catholic who lost in the GOP primary to President George H.W. Bush that year.

“He was kind of a bull in a China shop,” said Redmond, who was roommates with Bayham toward the end of college. “He was very feisty, very passionate and very principled.” 

Nelson, who was also active in the Democratic Party while at LSU, said she was pleased to see Bayham win his election to the Louisiana Legislature in 2024, even if her politics differed from his.

“I knew that he was the kind of person that we needed in the legislature. He was the kind of person that wasn’t going to be motivated by ideology but really what was best for the people,” she said.

In 2025, Bayham authored a new law that will require private insurance companies to pay for home visits after births for newborns and parents starting next year. Nelson, who worked for the Louisiana Policy Institute for Children at the time, asked Bayham to sponsor the legislation.

“Louisiana will be the first state in the South to have universal home visits after the birth of a child,” Nelson said. 

Following the death of Dolly Parton in September, Bayham announced his intention to introduce legislation in 2027 to pay for a children’s literacy program funded with fees from a new specialty license plate in the country music icon’s honor.   

One of the first laws Bayham passed as a freshman legislator in 2024 outlawed the use of nondisclosure agreements in employment contracts to cover up sexual misconduct and other hostile acts in the workplace. 

Prior to joining the legislature, Bayham worked in St. Bernard Parish government for several years, where he most recently oversaw the parish’s public transportation services. 

Friends said Bayham’s had an ardent interest in transit systems, which he developed after traveling the world extensively. He had been to every country in Europe multiple times, Glorioso said, and attended the recent New Orleans Saints game in Paris.  

A devout Catholic, Bayham never missed Sunday Mass while traveling, friends said. He was a parishioner of Our Lady of Prompt Succor Catholic Church in Chalmette.

Born in New Orleans, Bayham graduated from Holy Cross High School and earned a bachelor of arts degree from LSU with minors in journalism, political science and history.