Senator Valarie Hodges Contact information

Valarie Dawn Hope Hodges was born on March 12, 1955. She is a politician and businessperson from Denham Springs, Louisiana. She is a member of the Republican Party.

Hodges represented the 64th state House district of the Louisiana House of Representatives which includes the rural portions of northwest Livingston Parish and northeast East Baton Rouge parish from January 2012 to January 2024. On January 8, 2024, she assumed her role in the Louisiana State Senate where she represents the constituents of the 13th district which largely encompasses Livingston Parish north of Interstate 12.

Hodges met her future husband, Leland M. Hodges, while they were both students at Central High School. The two married in 1972 at Amite Baptist Church in Watson. The couple has three children, six grandchildren, and they jointly own and operate two small businesses. Hodges served as a missionary with her husband for 18 years. Through their work, they established an international ministry that operates churches in Nicaragua and Guadalajara, Mexico.

Hodges was first elected in 2011 to succeed term-limited Representative Bodi White, who was elected to the revamped District 6 seat in the Louisiana State Senate to succeed Julie Quinn. In the 2011 election, Hodges defeated fellow Republican Barry Elkins in the primary election held on October 22, 2011, by receiving over 69 percent of the vote. Hodges election came with the support of the Tea Party movement and former politicians David Vitter and Bobby Jindal.

Hodges first term was characterized by the creation of the Comite River Diversion Canal Project Task Force in 2014. The Task Force sought to study and make recommendations to ensure the completion of the Comite River Diversion Canal project. The Comite River runs through East Baton Rouge Parish where it meets the Amite River south of Denham Springs. The 12-mile Diversion Canal seeks to cut through neighborhoods in north, East Baton Rouge parish to join the Comite River to the Mississippi River to alleviate flooding concerns for residents in Livingston Parish who built their homes in a floodplain. The project has been discussed since the mid-1900s and has been ensnarled by delays ever since.