Republican Sid Edwards, a high school football coach, defeated incumbent mayor-president Democrat Sharon Weston Broome in a massive upset.

Only a month after Kamala Harris scored an 11% point win (54%-43%) over Donald Trump in East Baton Rouge Parish Republicans have done what many thought was unthinkable, flipping the Mayor-President position in Saturday’s December Runoff Election. The position has been held by Democrat Sharon Weston Broome since 2017 and she was expected to cruise to re-election ahead of the runoff. Broome was the first African American woman to Mayor-President East Baton Rouge Parish and was seen as one of the most powerful Democrats in Louisiana. Before becoming mayor-president she served twenty five years in the Louisiana State Legislature. Her tenure included stints as the President pro tempore of the Louisiana Senate and Speaker pro tempore of the Louisiana House of Representatives. Sid Edwards, her Republican opponent, on the other hand had no prior experience running for political office let alone serving in government. 

In the first round in November Edwards led Broome 34%-31% but that was mostly because another Democrat Ted James garnered 28% of the vote, splitting the Democratic vote share. Even though other Republicans were in the race they received a much smaller share of the vote meaning that the combined Republican share of the vote was only 39%, far less than the 59% the two Democrats collectively received. Fundraising data also made the race look uncompetitive. Broome outraised Edwards $600,000 to $80,000 in the race leaving Edwards unable to run TV ads. But Edwards, a local high school football coach, ran a spirited grassroots campaign focusing mostly on tackling crime in the city of Baton Rouge. The city of Baton Rouge has almost six times more murder crimes and four times more burglary crimes than the national average. Edwards blamed those numbers on Broome’s lack of action to address the issue and promised to hire 100 more police officers. 

Edwards’ message ultimately resonated and he pulled off a stunning 54%-46% victory over Broome. Crucial to his victory was his ability to sway a large number of Democrats who were discontent with Broome’s leadership and voted for James in the first round. Turnout also dropped in areas that had larger Black populations across the county, which is 44% Black overall. The size of Edwards’ victory, 8% points, was particularly impressive given that even in the Republican landslide in the 2023 Louisiana Governor Race Republican candidates collectively won the county by only a 5% point margin (50% – 45%).

Top: Kamala Harris defeated Trump in East Baton Rouge Parish 54-43% in the 2024 United States Presidential Race

Bottom: Republican candidates collectively won East Baton Rouge Parish 50%-45% in the 2023 Louisiana Governor Race