The results are in, and the city of Baton Rouge will be growing through a lot of changes, as well as setting up for another election on November 16 of this year.
Voters have said yes to establishing the city of St. George, which will be one of the biggest cities in the state. The population is a growing 86,000 people, according to The Advocate. The city will stretch from Jones Creek and Shenandoah to Siegen Lane.
Parish Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome said on the 54% win, “I will continue to represent everyone in East Baton Rouge Parish as the mayor-president. Whether it be issues like drainage, or transportation or our economy, we will have the highest level of success the more we stay united.
The winners were announced last night of the 2019 election for various roles in the state of Louisiana. Those who won their election were John Schroder, who is Louisiana’s Treasurer, as well as Michael Strain, who is now Louisiana’s Agriculture Commissioner.
Run-offs are also underway as the citizens of Louisiana will have to return to the ballots on November 16 to vote for the governor of the state. Democratic candidate and present governor John Bel Edwards is running against Republican Eddie Rispone. The run-off comes after Governor Edwards was short of a win, with 46.6% of votes, while Rispone had 27.4%. Rispone also had the full support of President Donald Trump, who attended a rally in Lake Charles this past Friday to get more citizens to vote for the business owner and his opponent, Ralph Abraham, who received 23.6% of votes.
Another run-off will be for Secretary of State, between Kyle Ardoin and Gwen Collins-Greenup. It was a close race for the two, with Ardoin leading with 41.1% with Greenup trailing behind with 33.8% of votes. Ardoin is has been holding the position as Secretary of State from a win last year in a special election.
Billy Nungesser wins his second term as Lieutenant Governor, running against Willie Jones. The New Orleans native is also the state’s chief tourism official, where he leads the Department of Culture, Recreation, and Tourism. He oversees the state marketing efforts for an $18 billion tourism industry that manages state parks, museums, and historic sites. He has promised the Louisiana citizens for more diversity and hopes to bring more investments into park systems.
Jeff Landry also won his second term as Attorney General, running against Ike Jackson. The lawyer from Plaquemine has had a lot of opposition against Governor Edwards, including state finances and the death penalty.
The State Senate had a lot of wins as well, with the majority of them being Democratic. However, there will be a runoff for the Multi-Parish State Senator, Senatorial District 16 against Beverly Brooks Thompson and Franklin Foil. The ones who won their seats are:
State Senatorial District 2 - Edward Ed Price (D)
State Senatorial District 6 - Mack Bodi White (R)
State Senator, Senatorial District 13 - J. Rogers Pope (R)
State Senator, Senatorial District 14 - Cleo Fields (D)
State Senator, Senatorial District 15 - Regina A Barrow (D)
For the House of Representative, there are a lot of run-offs that will happen in this 2019 election:
Rory Darry Adams is running against Johnny Arceneaux for the seat to represent District 62.
District 70 will have a runoff between Belinda Davis and Barbara Reich Freiburg.
The seat for District 71 will be up for either Lori Callais or Buddy Mincey, Jr.
Louisiana House of Representatives for District 88 runoff is between Brandon Trosclair and Kathy Edmonston
The winners in this election for House of Representatives were:
District 18 - Brandon Bergeron
Incumbent member of District 18 - Jeremy S. LaCombe
District 66 - Rick Edmonds
District 72 - Robby Carter
District 73 - Williams Bill Wheat, Jr.
District 74 - Larry Frieman
Amendments have passed and/or have been rejected during this election as well. 52.7% of citizens have decided to not allow outer continental shelf goods to have a tax break. The nonprofit organization, Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana argued this amendment, according to Ballotpedia. The organization stated that: "Adding yet another tax exemption would only further clutter the Constitution and restrict the local tax base.
Oil and gas companies should be required to pay tax on the property they own in Louisiana. A vote against this amendment would allow those few parishes that tax this class of property to continue to collect this much-needed revenue." Another amendment that did not pass was allowing New Orleans property tax exemption. This will exempt properties with no more than 15 residential units from taxes.
Amendments that were passed were to amend appropriations from the Education Excellence Fund and to expand the tax board authority. Amending appropriations from the Education Excellence Fund will allow for appropriations from the Education Excellence Fund to the Louisiana Educational Television Authority, Thrive Academy, and laboratory schools operated by public colleges.
See the other results from The Secretary of State's Office. Click Here.