When Mechelle Evans took a job with the Louisiana State Legislature as a full-time messenger in 1980, she had no idea it was the first step in a career that would span five decades—and counting.
Evans
At the time, she had recently moved from the small town of Tioga, La., to Baton Rouge and worked a few part-time jobs before following a lead at the Louisiana State Capitol. “I walked in the building as a 23-year-old, not knowing what I was getting into,” says Evans, now 66. “It was kind of a fluke. I walked in and said, ‘I need to put in an application.’ It was during session, and the lady stopped and said, ‘When can you start? Can you start right now?’”
A year later, Evans took a staff job with the House of Representatives. “The more I found out about the capitol, the more I wanted to move up,” she says. “I went to business school on my lunch hour and passed all the secretarial tests to become a committee secretary. As soon as I passed my test, the position with the Rural Caucus became available. Computers had just been introduced, and I knew how to work them. That’s how I got the job.”
Technology Changes, but Issues Remain the Same
That was 1986, when the Rural Caucus had 30 members. Now it has 77, making it the largest caucus at the Louisiana State Capitol. Not only has the caucus grown in the ensuing decades, the workflow has changed markedly. “From then to now, technology has made a huge difference in the way we work,” Evans says. “Back then, people would walk in and be waiting for me to type their letters. Everyone communicated by mail, and now everybody communicates by cellphone.”
However, Evans says the big issues for the caucus—infrastructure, health care and education—remain the same, and so has her motivation for the job. “I’m from a small town, and I believe in reaching out and trying to help those who cannot help themselves to try to make the world a better place,” she says. “I want to help the constituents, and I want to assist the members in helping those people in rural areas. It’s important that we don’t leave those people behind.”
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Evans says she also loves to help with school tours at the capitol. She prints honorary state representative certificates for visiting kids, gives them state capitol pins, and meets and greets them when their legislator is unavailable.
She also does some hand-holding with new legislators. “Some of them are terrified,” Evans says. “Some of them have never stepped foot into the Capitol. So, when they meet me, I want them to know that I am here to walk them through each step of the process, and they learn to depend on me.”
Danielle Babineaux Baker, executive director of the Acadiana Legislative Delegation at the Louisiana State Legislature, remembers how Evans helped her. “My first day in this role, Mechelle came and introduced herself and helped me not only get acclimated to my new role, but she was a wealth of knowledge,” says Baker, who has known Evans for 15 years. “Most of my members in my caucus are members of hers as well. We both try to step in and help each other in any way we can.”
A 'Go-Getter and Firecracker'
Describing Evans as a “go-getter and firecracker,” Baker continues, “Through seasons of growth, change, and challenge, Mechelle has not only witnessed history unfold within the institution, she has helped shape it. “
Rep. Troy Romero, who has served in the Louisiana House and the Rural Caucus since 2019, says Evans is indispensable to both. “If I had to pick a person who runs this place, it’s her,” he says. “She’s been here so long. She knows everybody. She knows the politics, past and present.”
Romero says Evans’ well-cultivated network and energetic approach has driven the Rural Caucus forward year after year, and he’s impressed by her positivity under pressure. “When you see her, she’s happy, she’s always available, and I can call her on the weekend and she’ll pick up the phone and answer any questions that I might have,” he says. “Forty years in any political job would drive somebody crazy, but she’s remained sane.”
House Speaker Phillip DeVillier adds, “She knows the state capitol, its staff, its history, and its many, many floors and rooms in a way that makes her adept in navigating any task she’s assigned. She is small—but mighty—both in stature and personality.”
As staff is nonpartisan in Louisiana, turnover is low and careers are long, Evans says. Legislative staffers “work together as basically one big unit,” she adds. “That’s one of the messages when we have fractures in the staff. I just want to say, ‘We all work together. Y’all need to understand, we are one. We make this engine work.’”
Evans has been involved with NCSL and its Leadership Staff Professional Association, or LSPA, since the early 1990s. She served as LSPA chair in 1999-2000 and won the organization’s 2020 Legislative Staff Achievement Award. She says it’s been instrumental in learning best practices from legislatures in other states and networking.
Baker, who began her second one-year term as LSPA chair in 2025, says Evans encouraged her to get involved with the organization. “Sometimes it takes a nudge from someone to make you take a leap,” she says. “I have enjoyed my time immensely with LSPA and having her on my team.”
Every day on the job is still something of an adventure for Evans, and she has no plans to retire anytime soon. “I walk in and say, ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do today, then the phone rings, and that dictates my day,” she laughs. “The bottom line is, I’m just trying to make my members look good every day.”
Eric Peterson is a Denver-based freelance writer.