Istrouma High School football coach Sid Edwards defeated incumbent Sharon Weston Broome on Saturday to become East Baton Rouge’s first Republican mayor-president in two decades.
Edwards not only was a political neophyte, but he eschewed politics in general. Voting records showed he hadn’t voted in 25 elections — over a period of more than eight years — until he took part in the Nov. 5 primary.
“I know a lot of people are in disbelief — none more than me,” Edwards said at his victory party.
Edwards benefited from a heavy turnout in Central while strong turnout in St. George helped harm Broome. Edwards had formerly coached the Central Wildcats football team and Broome had actively worked to disrupt the incorporation of East Baton Rouge Parish’s newest city.
Complete but unofficial returns saw Edwards winning 57,308-48,587, a margin of 54-46. Edwards and Broome had emerged from an eight-person primary Nov. 5. Former state lawmaker and Biden administration official Ted James had finished third and endorsed Broome.
East Baton Rouge’s last Republican mayor was Bobby Simpson, who was elected 24 years ago and served until January 2005. He was replaced by Kip Holden, who served three terms. Broome was seeking her third term.
Parishwide, voter turnout was just under 36 percent. Inside the city of Baton Rouge, turnout was 29 percent. In Central, 49 percent of voters went to the polls, and 44 percent turned out in St. George.
“We’re not saying that everything was bad in Baton Rouge, but things needed to be changed,” Edwards said.
This had been a particularly busy fall for Edwards, who both campaigned for mayor and led the Istrouma Indians to the state football quarterfinals. The Republican has coached football for more than four decades, winning state championships at Redemptorist and also leading Catholic High, Jesuit and Central.
Broome, meanwhile, has been dogged by an increasingly violent city. Homicides reached record levels during the pandemic, and many laid blame with her for a failure for the city to bring the murder rate down.
She also tried unsuccessfully to prevent the creation of a new city of St. George in the southeastern portion of the parish. Broome was among the initial plaintiffs challenging the city’s creation, and fared quite poorly in many areas.
Broome said she had tried to call Edwards on Saturday night to concede but couldn’t reach him. She said she would continue to find ways to serve the city in the future even without being in the mayor-president’s office. On live television, Edwards thanked Broome for her service and for running a good race.
“The hardest seat to be in is the incumbent, because you have a record,” he said.
Broome had defeated two Republicans in runoffs in each of her two previous races, turning back Bodi White by a 52-48 margin in 2016 and Steve Carter 57-43 four years ago. Each of those contests drew 115,000 voters to the polls. Turnout was smaller Saturday, off by about 10,000 from the earlier elections’ totals.
Two Metro Council races had gone to runoffs: Republican Brandon Noel defeated Democratic candidate Eric Smith Sr. and Anthony Kenney defeated Eugene Collins. Both Kenney and Collins are Democrats.
