Dr. Kim Fralick: Last of the Independents

Dr. Kim Fralick has an active veterinary practice and a  busy family life. She didn’t need to run for the Central City Council in 2014. However, despite being a conservative Christian who is “not into gender politics,” she believed people in Central wanted at least one woman on the City Council.

At the time, Central had a five-member City Council with the members being elected citywide.

Dr. Fralick put on her walking shoes and knocked on the doors of 4,800 Central homes — not an easy feat considering that Central is not made up entirely of neat subdivisions where you can walk door to door. In the more rural areas, a candidate has to drive up the driveway, get out and dodge angry dogs and find homeowners who are not always eager to see a stranger pulling in the drive.

But the hard work paid off, and Kim Fralick earned more than 5,100 votes, enough to run first in a crowded 11-candidate field.

Jr. Shelton was elected Mayor of Central in that election. When new city officials were inaugurated, Dr. Fralick was elected Mayor Pro-tem by her fellow members of the city council.  She was Central’s second Mayor Pro-tem, following the late Ralph Washington, and the first woman to serve in that role.

At the time, Kim was a registered Republican and was endorsed by the Republican Party of East Baton Rouge Parish. However, late in her first term, Dr. Fralick became disillusioned with political parties and switched to Independent.

In the city elections of 2019, Central voters made a revolution, sweeping out of office Mayor Shelton, Police Chief James Salsbury, and all five incumbent members of the Council including Kim Fralick.

In 2022, she ran for city council again, this time against Perry Whitney and was elected as an Independent. 

For years, voters who did not want to be members of a political party could register either as “no party” or as an Independent.  Many voters who registered “Independent” did not realize that they were actually joining the Independent Party.

For the past four years, Kim Fralick has been one of the few elected officials in Louisiana to be officially an “Independent.” 

Then in 2024, at the urging of Gov. Jeff Landry, the Louisiana Legislature passed the new Closed Primary election law.  As part of the changes in the election system, the legislature passed a separate bill abolishing the Independent Party. Leaders of the Independent Party supported the bill.

However, any elected official who was elected as an “Independent” is still listed on the Secretary of State’s database as an “Independent.”

That’s why when Dr. Kim Fralick ends her term on the Central City Council she will indeed be one of the “last of the Independents”!

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Councilwoman Kim Fralick said she is pleased at the progress Central has made the past four years especially the improvements in infrastructure and the way the Council has worked together mostly in harmony.  She said she is grateful to the voters for giving her the opportunity to serve.  Now she said she is looking forward to spending more time with their grandchildren and travelling.