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Louisiana voters, or at least the not quite 11% of them who showed up, concluded their civic duty for the calendar year last Saturday in 2024’s final elections.
Almost one third of all the voters who did participate were residents of East Baton Rouge Parish, where turnout reached nearly 36% to help Sid Edwards―a high school football coach and political newcomer―knock off two-term incumbent Mayor-president Sharon Weston Broome.
“Coach Sid broke all the old political rules,” says pollster and consultant John Couvillon.
He notes that Edwards got into the race late and was significantly out-raised, which kept him from advertising much on TV. Yet he still won 10% of the vote in precincts where at least 70% of residents are Black (compared to 5% in the primary), while dominating conservative strongholds and outpacing President-elect Donald Trump in more moderate majority-white neighborhoods.
Outside of Baton Rouge proper, there were other elections of note to cap off the year:
—Down the road in Gonzales, City Council member Tim Riley will be the city’s first Black mayor after getting 54% of the vote against fellow Democrat Kemlyn Bailey Lomas, who does not hold office but did boast several high-profile endorsements. Turnout for the race was about 29%.
—John Barker, an independent, defeated Democrat Timmy Martinez by a 60-40 margin to become mayor of Plaquemine.
—Democrat Walter Daniels III beat Republican Damon Ellzey 71-29 in the race for mayor of Amite City.
—Ascension Parish voters amended their home rule charter to clarify that the parish council, and not the parish president, has sole power to hire and fire the parish secretary.
—Livingston Parish voters shot down a charter amendment to “authorize the parish council to engage legal counsel for itself.”
—A charter amendment in Natchitoches Parish to authorize the parish council to hire “employees as may be necessary to assist the council in carrying out its duties and responsibilities” also was soundly defeated.
—PROMOTED: The Louisiana Restaurant Association has promoted Will DuBos to managing director of government affairs. DuBos, who joined the organization in 2022, will continue to lead the LRA’s advocacy efforts, including monitoring legislative and regulatory developments, representing the association before government bodies, and advising leadership on policy impacts. Before joining the LRA, DuBos worked as a lobbyist for Advanced Strategies Inc. and as an associate at Top Drawer Strategies.
—THEY SAID IT: “We now have so many that they’re getting in the way of deer hunting.” — Gov. Jeff Landry on the rising population of black bears, which are now subject to being hunted, in Louisiana Illuminator.
