BC interesting dynamics remain after marshal race

What appeared as a relatively dull contest when all was said and done obscures potential political intrigue surrounding Bossier City politics.

Incumbent Republican Marshal Jim Whitman won reelection comfortably last week over Republican City Councilor Brian Hammons. Whitman’s 62 percent to 38 percent margin capped a win in most city precincts, including winning overall Hammons’ own Council district.

A major reason why Whitman won by such a wide margin was he spent a record, even an excessive, amount of money on the effort. Through mid-October, he had paid out about $140,000 to retain his office, around $100,000 more than Hammons. The next closest ever city-wide spending came when GOP former Mayor Lo Walker was defeated for reelection in 2021, expending a few thousand less (and the counting isn’t over). Particularly when dealing with an obscure office with only 14.5 full-time equivalent employees, money is crucial in a campaign for it.

Interesting dynamics behind Caddo justice races

In contests dealing with the criminal justice system, Caddo Parish voters didn’t see any surprise winners, although how the contests turned out may not have been anticipated.

There wasn’t a whole lot of action for voters. Not atypically, only one district judgeship in the 1^st District was contested, and that took some special circumstances. In one of the two majority white registrant special election sections in the 1^st (another is majority black), veteran prosecutor Republican Hugo Holland, who is white, secured the Division F (Section 3) seat over local attorney Democrat Treneisha Jackson Hill, who is black, by two percentage points.

That was closer than might be anticipated given a district about even in partisan terms, but where white registrants outnumbered black ones about 3:2. All other judges in the section are white Republicans. Also, Holland would build a significant advantage over Hill in money, with his campaign committee raising $82,000 compared to her $18,000, although she started late in the campaign.