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A special election was held Saturday in six parishes to fill five vacancies in the Louisiana Legislature, including three seats representing New Orleans.
Two of the contests will be decided in a runoff next month, but the outcomes won’t alter the overall party makeup of the state house where Republicans continue to hold a super majority in both chambers.
The March 14 runoff in Senate District 3 will pit the son of a former New Orleans mayor against an attorney with a background in the public sector.
Sidney Barthelemy II, a construction company owner, led the four-person field with 44% of the vote. That was double the share received by Kenn Barnes, a special counsel to the Louisiana Supreme Court and former public defender and city attorney.
Chad Lauga, a St. Bernard Parish electrician and union lobbyist, finished third with 19%. Former state lawmaker Jon Johnson finished last in the all-Democrat field.
Barthlemey and Barnes want to replace Joe Bouie, D-New Orleans, who stepped away from the Louisiana Senate to take the chancellor’s role at Southern University New Orleans.
Small business owner Reese “Skip” Broussard, a Republican from Jennings, claimed a resounding win with 67% of the vote over former Jefferson Davis Sheriff Ivy Woods, who has no party affiliation. Broussard received the endorsement of the Louisiana Republican Party and several elected leaders in his district that includes most of Jeff Davis and a sliver of Calcasieu Parish.
The District 37 seat became open when Troy Romero of Jennings resigned from the legislature to become state rural development director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Republicans missed out on their only opportunity to gain a seat in the special election when Iberville Parish Councilwoman Chasity Verret Martinez, a Democrat, defeated Brad Daigle, a Plaquemine business owner. The district she’ll represent includes portions of Assumption and Iberville parishes.
Martinez replaces another Democrat in Chad Brown, who Gov. Jeff Landry appointed last year to lead the state Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control.
Ed Murray claimed the win over Eugene Green III with a 52% to 48% advantage in a race between the sons of two New Orleans political figures.
Edwin Murray Sr. held a seat in the legislature from 1992 to 2016. The elder Green is serving his second term on the New Orleans City Council.
The younger Murray, who is an attorney, replaces Matthew Willard, who took a citywide at-large seat on the New Orleans City Council in January.
Attorneys Kenya Rounds and Dana Henry also advanced to the March runoff for a seat representing eastern New Orleans. They earned 33% and 30% of the vote, respectively.
Rounding out the field were educator Patricia Boyd Robinson (15%) political consultant Aeisha Kelly (14%) and community organizer Candice Taylor (7%).
The winner replaces Jason Hughes, another new member of the New Orleans City Council.