Four Qualify for District Judge in Central

 On April 4, voters in the northern part of East Baton Rouge Parish will go to the polls in a special election to choose a replacement for District Judge Beau Higginbotham. The person chosen will serve only a few months, because the seat will be filled for a full six-year term in the election on Nov. 3.

Demographic changes in the northern judicial sub-district have made it increasingly difficult for a Republican to be elected. As a result, the four candidates in the April 4 special election are all Democrats.

Now voters in Central who generally favor Republicans will have the opportunity to decide which of the Democrats to support. That support could conceivably deter

mine the outcome. The four candidates who qualified are:

•Judge Yvette Alexander who serves on Baton Rouge City Court

•Attorney Tiffany Foxworth.

•Attorney Eboni Johnson-Rose, daughter of newly-elected District Judge Ron Johnson.

•Jennifer Moisant, an attorney who serves as chairwoman of the Council on Aging, which has become the leading organization transporting Democratic voters to the polls during early voting and on election day.

All of the candidates are Democrats, although they bring very different backgrounds and views to the race.

Tiffany Foxworth, a conservative Democrat, has already begun making an appeal to Republican voters in Central, emphasizing her pro-family stand and her background as a veteran of the United States Army.

The northern sub-district, which includes Baker, Central, Zachary, and nearby areas has been trending Democrat for years. In the Oct. 12, 2019 primary, voters in the district elected a Democrat, City Judge Tarvald Smith, to the seat over Republican attorney Beau Brock by 53 percent to 47 percent. In the Nov. 16, 2019, runoff for a district judgeship from the same northern subdistrict, Democrat Ron Johnson defeated Republican Metro Councilman Trae Welch by 57 percent to 43 percent. In the runoff, 10,000 more voters went to the polls.

As recently as 2014, Republican candidates dominated races for the three of four District Court judgeships on the ballot from the northern sub-district:

• Republican Judge Todd Hernandez defeated challenger Democrat Colett Greggs 53 to 47 percent.

•Judge Richard Anderson, a Republican, defeated Democrat attorney Joyce Plummer 54 percent to 46 percent.

•Republican attorney Beau Higginbotham defeated Democrat attorney Cleveland Coons by 52 percent to 48 percent.

The primary in the election will be held April 4 with a runoff if necessary on May 9.

The Presidential Primary will be on the ballot April 4, which should contribute to voter turnout on the Democrat side.  The May 9 runoff should be a low-turnout affair with little else on the ballot.  In Central, voters will decide on whether to renew a property tax for school purposes.