[2] In 1892, Heard was elected as Louisiana state auditor of public accounts, a position that he held for two terms of eight years.

[4] Heard was a member of the Democratic Party, but he had Populist tendencies and was a supporter of the expanded coinage of silver.

[5] At the general election, he defeated two Republicans running on separate tickets, both of whom received less than 22 percent of the vote following the mass-scale disenfranchisement of African American voters via Jim Crow laws.

His term was fairly low-key compared to other colorful and dynamic personalities that held that office and he was considered to be a "bureaucratic" governor.

[6][5] Heard carried on a correspondence with a young state representative, Harry D. Wilson of Tangipahoa Parish, who in 1916 was elected to the first of eight terms as the Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry.

[8] The Louisiana Revised Statutes specify that the governor shall determine the design of the official state seal.

[5] Serving in public office most of his early life, Heard became a banker and an accountant in New Orleans after his single term as governor.