Malapportionment of Judicial Sub-Districts Could Give Dems 10 of 15 District Judgeships

BATON ROUGE — Chaos has reigned in judicial circles in East Baton Rouge Parish in recent weeks, as some sitting district judges have realized that their seemingly safe judicial seats aren’t safe at all, others have simply felt it is time to retire, and some attorneys have sensed the winds of opportunity blowing.

Although they are not up for reelection until next year, four sitting district judges have retired or announced their retirement this year— Judges Todd Hernandez, Mike Erwin, Lou Daniels, and Mike Caldwell. Another sitting district judge, Judge Beau Higginbotham, is considering running this fall for a different district judge seat.

Malapportionment of the parish’s three District Court subdistricts is at the heart of the upheaval.

Voters in East Baton Rouge Parish elect District Judges from three separate subdistricts — an inner city Baton Rouge subdistrict, a northern parish subdistrict, and a southern parish subdistrict. Each subdistrict elects five District Judges at the time of the Presidential election.

The judicial subdistricts were created in the 1990’s to insure minority voters had the chance to elect judges, and the inner city Baton Rouge subdistrict was designed for that purpose. However, the subdistricts are now severely malapportioned. 

As a result of the malapportionment, the parish, which has a majority of white voters and slightly more than half of elected officials are Republicans, could end up electing 10 Democrats to fill 15 district judgeships.

The southern parish subdistrict has 127,820 voters and five district judges — one district judge for every 25,564 voters. The subdistrict has 90,610 white voters, 28,581 black voters, and 8,629 voters of other races.  Based on population, 

this subdistrict should elect seven district judges, instead of five.

The northern subdistrict has 97,270 voters and five district judges — one judge for every 18,540 voters. It now has 46,450 whites, 46,501 blacks, and 4,339 voters of other races. Based on population, this subdistrict should elect five district judges.

However, the inner city Baton Rouge subdistrict has only 57,846 voters and five district judges — one judge for every 11,569 voters. It has 7,411 white voters, 48,455 black voters, and 1,981 voters of other races.  Based on population, this subdistrict should elect only three district judges, instead of five.

The southern subdistrict has been growing in population while the inner city district has been losing. Yet, the legislature has taken no action to correct the malapportionment. It could do so by redrawing subdistrict lines and creating three subdistricts approximately equal in population or by changing the number of judges from each district.  

Judge Todd Hernandez of Zachary, who would have been up for reelection from the northern subdistrict next year, announced his retirement this March.  Judge Mike Erwin, also of the northern district, announced his retirement this year as well. However, he would not have been eligible to run next year because of the mandatory retirement age.

In the northern subdistrict, where voter registration is now basically 50-50, some political experts say it is almost impossible for a Republican or a white Democrat to win.

Baton Rouge City Judge Tarvald Smith, a Democrat, is seeking the seat held by Hernandez. He will be opposed by Republican attorney Beau Brock.

Seeking the northern subdistrict seat held by Judge Mike Erwin this fall will be attorney Ron Johnson, a Democrat and twin brother of District Judge Don Johnson, who represents the inner city Baton Rouge subdistrict.  Ron Johnson will be opposed by Metro Councilman Trae Welch, a Republican.  Welch has represented Central and Zachary on the Metro Council for the past 12 years. His father is Court of Appeal Judge Duke Welch.

Political pundits give the edge to Democrats in these races because of the strong showing of black candidates running in the northern district in 2014, when many ran underfunded campaigns without the usual signs and advertising but won 46 to 48 percent of the vote against the winning Republican candidates. Since then, the subdistrict has turned significantly more Democratic.

The pundits say the only way candidates like Brock and Welch can win is with a heavy Republican turnout in Central and Zachary.

Meanwhile, District Judge Beau Higginbotham who represents the northern district and is not up for reelection until next year, is reportedly considering running for retiring Judge Caldwell’s southern subdistrict seat this fall. If successful, that would lock him into a more Republican seat and avoid facing a possibly heated reelection campaign in the northern district in the fall of 2020.

Besides Judge Higginbotham, the other two district judges from the northern subdistrict who are eligible to run for reelection next year are Judges Richard Anderson and Chip Moore.