Education
In 1979, Pugh briefly attended Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond. In 2000, he graduated as an Accredited Asset Management Specialist (AAMS) from the College of Financial Planning.
In 1979, Pugh briefly attended Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond. In 2000, he graduated as an Accredited Asset Management Specialist (AAMS) from the College of Financial Planning.
Pugh is a native of Hammond in Tangipahoa Parish. From 1978 to 1999, Pugh operated a floral shop. From 1981-1984, Pugh chaired the Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival.
He is Roman Catholic.
With no previous political experience except a competitive but losing campaign for the District 73 seat in 1991, Pugh was elected to the state House in 2007 for the seat vacated by the term-limited Republican Henry "Tank" Powell. Pugh led in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 20, having polled 6,108 votes (437 percent).
He was scheduled to enter a runoff election with fellow Republican Michelle Aycock, who received 3,327 votes (238 percent). A third Republican, Tony Licciardi, and a Democrat, Scott Ploof, trailed with 2,971 and 1,566 votes, respectively.
Pugh is an advocate for the elderly and the deaf and hard-of-hearing.
He is the legislative point man of the free captioned telephone and telecommunications relay services provided by Hamilton Relay in District 73 and later throughout the state. In the face of a large state budget shortfall in 2011, Pugh addressed the Southeastern faculty senate and opposed cuts in higher education and health. In his first term, Pugh served on the committees of (1) Commerce, (2) House and Governmental Affairs, and (3) Municipal, Parochial, and Cultural Affairs.
In the 2011 legislative session, Pugh supported a successful House measure to provide for random drug screening of welfare recipients, but the measure died procedurally in the State Senate.
Pugh, meanwhile, opposed the establishment of a commission to determine how the state might gradually abolish its income tax Pugh was handily reelected in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 22, 2011.
He defeated fellow Republican David P. Englade, 7,464 (811 percent) to 1,740 (189 percent). Pugh had a much closer contest in his 2015 reelection.
In the primary held on October 24, he defeated fellow Republican Tim Bailey, 5,341 (516 percent) to 5,003 (484 percent).