While he was still a principal in Vermilion Parish in 1975, Picard upset a state House member in District 47 in the first ever nonpartisan blanket primary held in Louisiana.
After three years in the state House, he won a special election to complete the term of state Senator Ned Doucet, Jr., in District 25, which encompasses all or parts of Acadia, Calcasieu, Cameron, Jefferson Davis, and Vermilion parishes.