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Byron Sharper
Byron Sharper was a mayoral candidate for the city of Baton Rouge in Louisiana. He was defeated in the primary election on November 8, 2016.
Sharper was a 2015 Democratic candidate for District 61 of the Louisiana House of Representatives. Sharper withdrew before the primary.
Sharper previously served on the Baton Rouge Metro Council. He was defeated by C. Denise Marcelle in 2008.[1]
Biography
Sharper is the vice president of the Baton Rouge branch of the NAACP.[2]
Campaign themes
2016
Sharper submitted responses to the following questions from 225 Magazine:
| “ |
Do you believe Baton Rouge has a race problem, and if so what 2 steps would you take as mayor in your first year to address it? Yes, we do have a race problem. And for me, my goal would be to put everyone in a room, close the door and have a conversation. Because I think until we’re honest with ourselves and bring everyone to the table, we have issues. We have an issue with police, economic development, and we have to have everyone at the table, including African Americans, young people ages 18-30 to find out why are feel so hopeless, the church community, everyone. We have to address the problems in north Baton Rouge, the lack of hospitals, high schools, grocery stores, and the opportunity for residents there to take care of their families. There are a lot of trust issues. When folks talk about Baton Rouge, they don’t want to admit it, but we have two cities in one. I’ve been on a listening tour for the last year, and that’s what you hear. East Baton Rouge Parish and its residents were severely impacted by the August floods. What specific ideas do you have to rebuild our community and strengthen its people? First, get the trash and debris from in front of homes and businesses and help folks with counseling. People weren’t prepared, and now there are lots of mental health issues. We also need to change the policy of how people are doing business in Louisiana, especially insurance companies. In order for you to consider your first term as mayor a success, what is the No. 1 thing you hope to have accomplished? The number one thing is dealing with our race relations, because until we fix our police department and our trust of each other, we’re not going anywhere. And we need to put some money into north Baton Rouge for infrastructure, economic development and to get rid of blight.[3][4] |
” |
| —Byron Sharper (2016) | ||
Elections
2016
| Mayor of Baton Rouge, Primary Election, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic |  Sharon Weston Broome |
31.62% | 60,368 | |
| Republican | Bodi White |
29.36% | 56,059 | |
| Democratic | C. Denise Marcelle | 13.34% | 25,477 | |
| Republican | John Delgado | 8.41% | 16,049 | |
| Republican | R.J. Bourgeois | 6.13% | 11,710 | |
| Independent | Darryl Gissel | 5.88% | 11,228 | |
| Democratic | Greg LaFleur | 1.83% | 3,498 | |
| Democratic | Byron Sharper | 1.30% | 2,484 | |
| Libertarian | Rufus Craig | 1.05% | 2,002 | |
| Independent | Beverly Amador | 0.44% | 843 | |
| Republican | Braylon Hyde | 0.42% | 805 | |
| Independent | Cade Williams | 0.21% | 410 | |
| Total Votes | 190,933 | |||
| Source: Louisiana Secretary of State, "Official Results," accessed November 8, 2016 | ||||
2015
Elections for the Louisiana House of Representatives took place in 2015. A primary election was held on October 24, 2015, with a general election held in districts where necessary on November 21, 2015. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was September 10, 2015, at 4:30 p.m. CDT.[5]
Louisiana elections use the Louisiana majority-vote system. All candidates compete in the same primary, and a candidate can win the election outright by receiving more than 50% 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.
For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article. C. Denise Marcelle (D) defeated Donna Collins-Lewis (D) in the October 24 blanket primary. Byron Sharper (D) withdrew before the primary.[6][7]
| Louisiana House of Representatives, District 61 Primary Election, 2015 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | C. Denise Marcelle |
60.6% | 4,971 | |
| Democratic | Donna Collins-Lewis | 39.4% | 3,237 | |
| Total Votes | 8,208 | |||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Byron Sharper Baton Rouge. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Louisiana House of Representatives
- Louisiana House of Representatives District 61
- Louisiana House of Representatives elections, 2015
- Louisiana State Legislature
- Municipal elections in Baton Rouge, Louisiana (2016)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Greater Baton Rouge Report, "Former Metro Councilman Byron Sharper announces run for Baton Rouge mayor’s office," May 3, 2016
- ↑ The Advocate, "Economic boycott of Baton Rouge malls, Walmart called for by black leaders to cause others to 'feel the pain we’re feeling here'," July 8, 2016
- ↑ 225 Magazine, "Byron Sharper (D)," October 4, 2016
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Louisiana Secretary of State, "2015 Elections," accessed January 2, 2015
- ↑ Louisiana Secretary of State, "Candidate Inquiry," accessed October 13, 2015
- ↑ Louisiana Secretary of State, "Official Election Results," accessed November 1, 2015
