Editor: To beat Holden, Walker needs a runoff

Published Sep 21, 2012 at 10:00 am (Updated Sep 21, 2012)

If Mike Walker is to become the next mayor of Baton Rouge, says Business Report Executive Editor JR Ball, two things must happen. "First, incumbent Kip Holden can't win the race outright (50%-plus) in the Nov. 6 primary; and, second, voters in south Baton Rouge must turn out in significant numbers and push the 'x' button for the current mayor pro tem in the Dec. 8 runoff," Ball writes in his latest column. "It's as simple as that—and it's Walker's only legitimate shot at preventing Holden from winning a third term as the head of the parish and its signature city." Holden is hardly the darling that he was with voters in 2008, when he easily won re-election with 71% of the primary vote and became the first mayoral candidate to capture all 314 parish precincts, Ball acknowledges. But despite the fact that his popularity has been slowly fading—in both the black and white communities—ever since, Ball says: "Holden is still the incumbent, he's still popular with many white voters, and the black community, whether it is upset or not, is not going to abandon the only black—and the only Democrat—in the field." And with the presidential election—and Barack Obama—on the Nov. 6 ballot, Ball notes, black turnout figures to be heaviest in the mayoral primary. Read the full column here; and send your comments to editors@businessreport.com.