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Belinda Davis
Belinda Davis was an at-large member of the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. She assumed office on January 13, 2020. She left office on January 8, 2024.
Davis (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Louisiana House of Representatives to represent District 68. She lost in the general election on November 18, 2023.
Davis was a Democratic candidate for District 7 representative on the East Baton Rouge Parish School System school board in Louisiana. Davis was defeated in the by-district primary election on October 14, 2017.
Davis was appointed by Gov. John Bel Edwards to replace the Louisiana Board of Education seat left vacant by Lurie Thomason, who resigned in December 2019.[1]
Biography
Belinda Davis earned a bachelor's degree in English and political science from the University of Mississippi in 1993. Davis earned a master's degree and Ph.D. in political science from Florida State University in 1998 and 2001, respectively. Davis' career experience includes working as an associate professor of political science and as the deputy director of the Public Policy Research Lab at Louisiana State University. Davis has served as a faculty advisor for Tigers Against Trafficking, as a board member for Humanities Amped, and has been affiliated with Kids Hope USA, One Community One School District, and Beyond Bricks.[2]
Elections
2023
See also: Louisiana House of Representatives elections, 2023
Louisiana elections use the majority-vote system. All candidates compete in the same primary, and a candidate can win the election outright by receiving more than 50 percent of the vote. If no candidate does, the top two vote recipients from the primary advance to the general election, regardless of their partisan affiliation.
General election
General election for Louisiana House of Representatives District 68
Dixon McMakin defeated Belinda Davis in the general election for Louisiana House of Representatives District 68 on November 18, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Dixon McMakin (R)  | 56.6 | 4,736 |
 | Belinda Davis (D) | 43.4 | 3,625 | |
| Total votes: 8,361 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Louisiana House of Representatives District 68
Dixon McMakin and Belinda Davis defeated Laura White Adams, Robert Grodner Jr., and Parry Thomas in the primary for Louisiana House of Representatives District 68 on October 14, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Dixon McMakin (R) | 31.8 | 3,606 |
| ✔ | | Belinda Davis (D) | 31.1 | 3,526 |
 | Laura White Adams (R) | 30.8 | 3,493 | |
| Robert Grodner Jr. (D) | 4.1 | 463 | ||
| Parry Thomas (Independent) | 2.3 | 261 | ||
| Total votes: 11,349 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Davis in this election.
2019
See also: Louisiana House of Representatives elections, 2019
Louisiana elections use the majority-vote system. All candidates compete in the same primary, and a candidate can win the election outright by receiving more than 50 percent of the vote. If no candidate does, the top two vote recipients from the primary advance to the general election, regardless of their partisan affiliation.
General election
General election for Louisiana House of Representatives District 70
Barbara Freiberg defeated Belinda Davis in the general election for Louisiana House of Representatives District 70 on November 16, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Barbara Freiberg (R) | 52.6 | 8,758 |
| Belinda Davis (D) | 47.4 | 7,891 | |
| Total votes: 16,649 (100.00% precincts reporting) | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Louisiana House of Representatives District 70
Belinda Davis and Barbara Freiberg defeated Michael DiResto, Ricky Sheldon, and Mallory Mayeux in the primary for Louisiana House of Representatives District 70 on October 12, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Belinda Davis (D) | 38.1 | 5,504 |
| ✔ | | Barbara Freiberg (R) | 28.7 | 4,151 |
| Michael DiResto (R) | 20.6 | 2,978 | ||
| Ricky Sheldon (R) | 9.3 | 1,347 | ||
 | Mallory Mayeux (L) | 3.3 | 478 | |
| Total votes: 14,458 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
2017
One of nine seats on the East Baton Rouge Parish School System school board in Louisiana was up for by-district special election. The primary election was scheduled for October 14, 2017, after former District 7 representative Barbara Freiberg resigned from her position on the board.[3][4] Appointed board member Michael Gaudet defeated challengers Brian Adams and Belinda Davis in the race for the District 7 seat.[5]
| East Baton Rouge Parish School System, District 7 Primary Election, 1-year term, 2017 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican |  Michael Gaudet Incumbent |
60.84% | 2,515 | |
| Democratic | Belinda Davis | 34.35% | 1,420 | |
| Democratic | Brian Adams | 4.81% | 199 | |
| Total Votes | 4,134 | |||
| Source: Geaux Vote, "Official Results - East Baton Rouge Parish," accessed October 30, 2017 | ||||
Campaign themes
2023
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Belinda Davis did not complete Ballotpedia's 2023 Candidate Connection survey.
2019
Ballotpedia biographical submission form
The candidate completed Ballotpedia's biographical information submission form:
| “ | What is your political philosophy?
Belinda has an unwavering commitment to public education and making government more accountable to taxpayers. Belinda believes in Louisiana's future.[6] |
” |
| —Belinda Davis[2] | ||
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Belinda Davis completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Davis' responses.
What would be your top three priorities, if elected?
Making education our state’s top priority, fixing our state's crumbling infrastructure, and making sure that we make Louisiana a better place to live and investing in our future.
What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?
I have always been a passionate advocate for education. In fact, I've dedicated my whole career to it. As a working mom, I have been at the forefront of public discourse about getting the resources that our students and teachers need in the class room. As an educator myself, I am on the front lines. But also as a policy researcher, I know that Louisiana's lawmakers must use proven, research-based strategies to provide better outcomes for our kids and teachers. After a decade of Jindal-era funding freezes in our schools, we absolutely must fight for more investment in our children’s future.
Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?
I look up to former Senator Mary Landrieu. In her career she was always much more interested in effective policy and doing what our state needed her to do, and that is the kind of legislator I would like to be. As a policy expert, the thing that interests me the most is not partisan games, but instead putting in the most effective policies to create the best outcomes for our state. That’s the reputation that Senator Landrieu had in her years of public service, and that’s the example I want to follow. It's what I've always fought for, and it's what I'll fight for in the State House.
What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?
I believe that a representative has to be just that – they need to represent the people in their district. It means, in particular, they need to be accountable only to the people who put them into office – their voters – and not the special interests who try and influence them. In turn, that means a representative has to have integrity – they need to stand up to corruption where they see it, and also resist the influence of the same. And I think the other part of that is that they need to be empathetic. When a constituent comes to you with a problem, you need to listen to it intently and be an advocate for them in whatever way you can. So the three pillars of good representation are accountability, integrity, and empathy.
What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?
I am a mom, a teacher, and a policy wonk. As a mom, I’m very sensitive to the issues that our children are facing in our state. I love my boys with all my heart, and every decision I make comes with thoughts toward their future. It’s why I’m so tightly focused on education – my sons are in Baton Rouge public schools, and for them and all other kids in our schools, we need to be better and do better by them. Likewise my experience as a professor means that I’ve seen both sides of what our schools have been going through due to the Jindal-era freezes in education spending, and fixing this is the main reason I’ve chosen to run. And professionally, I’ve worked for more than a decade on policy, to make sure that taxpayers and voters are getting the most effective work for their tax dollars, in Louisiana and elsewhere. I want to be a state representative to start putting in research-based, sensible policies that will help our state become the incubator of the American Dream.
What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?
A representative’s job is to be an advocate both for their voters and those who didn’t vote for them in their district. No matter the political leanings of your district, it’s your job to be their point of power in the state house. So that means being accountable to them, and listening to them and what they need and want in the Capitol. And more than that, it means delivering for them – to get what the district needs to help the people in it with the strongest, best policies to make sure they get the best bang for their taxpayer buck.
What legacy would you like to leave?
I’d like to be remembered as someone who got things done. Who led the way on new, effective policies that started Louisiana back on the path to success. There are too many people in our state who have been left behind by our government. I would like to be the representative who got them a seat back at the table and started improving the quality of life for every Louisianan. We need representatives who will serve all of us, not just the ones at the top who are served by the status quo, the special interests, and the politicians who listen to them over their constituents.
Do you believe that it’s beneficial for state legislators to have previous experience in government or politics?
It is an asset for someone entering the state legislature to have previous experience in government in politics; it means that they come in with existing relationships with other people in government. It means they usually have some kind of experience with the lawmaking process, and don’t have to be completely brought up to speed from the ground up. Both of these things makes the first few years in the Capitol a lot easier. That being said, I think being inexperienced in government and politics should not preclude someone from serving. Good legislators can come from any walk of life, not just being born and bred into the political realm.
What do you perceive to be your state’s greatest challenges over the next decade?
Right now, Louisiana has one of the worst quality-of-life rankings of any state in the country. I believe this is completely unacceptable. The fact is that those who have the greatest need in our state aren’t able to get it. It’s time to get past political games and ideological bills that only serve special interests. As a state, we need to stop worrying about grandstanding and looking good in the papers by passing more than symbolic legislation that won’t pass court challenges. Instead, our focus has to be completely on improving our state from the bottom up, to make Louisiana the place where the American Dream is born.
What do you believe is the ideal relationship between the governor and the state legislature?
Anything but adversarial. When the government is in opposition to each other, progress runs to a standstill. The good people of Louisiana deserve a government that works, that moves together to address the problems that our state faces. You need only look so far as Washington, D.C. to see what happens when a government can’t function. No legislation of consequence gets passed. You get a government-by-brinksmanship, and negotiation only in the aftermath of disasters. A good relationship between a governor and a state legislator means that the government can be responsive to serious problems, and proactive to solve others.
Do you believe it’s beneficial to build relationships with other legislators? Please explain your answer.
It is not only beneficial to build relationships with other legislators – I believe it is absolutely essential. Especially as a member of the party that will likely be in the minority of the state house after the election, it will be absolutely key for me to build coalitions with other legislators from all across the political spectrum – Independent, Democrat, and even Republican. Louisiana has long held a reputation for bipartisan measures passed with the support of members across political boundaries, and I aim to keep that tradition going. But even beyond simple partisanship, it’s equally important to develop personal relationships with other legislators. No matter what position you find yourself in it’s helpful to have a good relationship with your coworkers. When there is bad blood between one legislator and another, process grinds to a halt, and that doesn’t serve anyone or anything but the status quo.
What process do you favor for redistricting?
I am in favor of any new legislative instrument that draws districts fairly. Whether that means a nonpartisan or bipartisan independent commission or another format, as long as the policy is one that: 1. Keeps existing political boundaries – cities and towns – as intact as possible as part of the new district lines 2. Bars favoring one political party over another in the drawing of the districts, to ensure the process remains nonpartisan 3. Includes all community voices in consideration of where the district lines should be drawn
If you are not a current legislator, are there certain committees that you would want to be a part of?
Well, without question I would love to be on the education committee. I have made our children’s education my top priority, and many of my other personal priorities include revitalizing our state’s public education system. With that said, I would also like to be on the Appropriations committee in order to make sure that my constituents’ taxpayer dollars go only to the most effective policy programs and are not wasted on frivolous projects and special interest payoffs. I think I would also like to be on the house and government affairs committee, for much the same purpose. As a policy researcher, I want to make sure that we have the best-functioning government in Baton Rouge that we can have, and being on that committee would help.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2023 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Washington Post, "Louisiana governor announces state education board members," January 2, 2020
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Information submitted on Ballotpedia’s biographical information submission form on August 22, 2019
- ↑ Louisiana Secretary of State, "2017 Elections Calendar," accessed July 11, 2017
- ↑ The Advocate, "Deadlock to fill Freiberg's vacancy on EBR School Board ends Thursday with one vote switched; Gaudet named to seat," January 19, 2017
- ↑ Geaux Vote, "Unofficial Results - East Baton Rouge Parish," accessed October 14, 2017
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Lurie Thomason |
Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education At-large 2020-2024 |
Succeeded by Judy Armstrong |
