Calvin Duncan

Calvin Duncan

Democratic Party

Candidate, Orleans Parish Criminal Court Clerk

Elections and appointments

Next election

November 15, 2025

Education

Bachelor's

Tulane University, 2018

Law

Lewis & Clark Law School, 2023

Personal

Birthplace

New Orleans, La.

Religion

Christian

Profession

Advocate

Contact

Campaign website

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Calvin Duncan (Democratic Party) is running for election for Orleans Parish Criminal Court Clerk in Louisiana. He is on the ballot in the general election on November 15, 2025. He advanced from the primary on October 11, 2025.

Duncan completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Calvin Duncan was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He earned a bachelor's degree from Tulane University in 2018 and a law degree from Lewis & Clark Law School in 2023. His career experience includes working as an advocate.

Elections

2025

See also: City elections in New Orleans, Louisiana (2025)

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 Orleans Parish Criminal Court Clerk

Incumbent Darren Lombard and Calvin Duncan are running in the general election for Orleans Parish Criminal Court Clerk on November 15, 2025.

		Candidate
	Submit photo	Darren Lombard (D)
		Calvin Duncan (D)

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Orleans Parish Criminal Court Clerk

Calvin Duncan and incumbent Darren Lombard defeated Valencia Miles in the primary for Orleans Parish Criminal Court Clerk on October 11, 2025.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Calvin Duncan (D)	47.0	46,259
✔	Submit photo	Darren Lombard (D)	46.4	45,587
	Submit photo	Valencia Miles (Unaffiliated)	6.6	6,490

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. Source 1 Source 2	Total votes: 98,336
= 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.

Endorsements

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Campaign themes

2025

Video for Ballotpedia

Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released September 11, 2025

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Calvin Duncan completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Duncan's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am a lawyer and exoneree who spent more than 28 years in prison for a crime I didn’t commit - in part because the Orleans Parish Criminal Clerk's Office refused to give me the records I needed to challenge my wrongful conviction. I taught myself the law at Angola to help myself and others access the courts. As a jailhouse lawyer, I represented hundreds of people who could not afford an attorney. Some of the cases I worked on ultimately led to victories at the U.S. Supreme Court, including the case banning non-unanimous jury verdicts.

I finally won my freedom in 2011 and exonerated in 2021. I obtained my B.A. from Tulane University and my J.D. from Lewis & Clark. I also received an honorary law degree from Loyola.

I founded the Light of Justice, a project that informs incarcerated people of legal deadlines and helps them access the courts. One of my main jobs is tracking down their court records. I have gone to Clerk's Offices all over this state to retrieve records, and none are as dysfunctional as the Orleans Parish Clerk's Office. We have the busiest criminal court in the state and the highest wrongful conviction rate in the nation, yet don’t even have a digital filing system.

I am committed to making the court more accessible, efficient, and fair - because I know how much is at stake.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Court records aren’t just pieces of paper; they’re people’s lives. When people don’t have access to records, innocent people can’t get back into court, prosecutors can’t move cases, and victims can’t get closure. That’s why I was heartbroken to see records end up in the landfill under the current Clerk’s watch. We need a Clerk who understands the importance of records and evidence.. As Clerk, I will properly preserve and digitize all records and introduce online filing. The incumbent has had four years to accomplish that - and he hasn't done it. I won't make excuses because I know that people’s lives are at stake.
• The Clerk's Office should be accessible to the community it serves. The current Clerk’s Office does not have online filing or digitized records, meaning people must physically go to the Clerk’s Office during limited business hours. That’s difficult for working people and impossible for incarcerated folks. I will make records available online and provide online filing so that victims, defendants, and members of the public can access the court at any time of day. I will also provide more information to the public about how to navigate the court system - particularly considering the stress that many courthouse visitors are facing. My office will meet the people we serve where they’re at.
• Elections are the cornerstone of our democracy - and as Chief Elections Officer, the Clerk of Court manages all elections for our parish. Given the real threats to our democracy right now, it is imperative that the Clerk run transparent elections that are free, fair, and fully secure. As Clerk, I will ensure that all election procedures are run smoothly. I will publicize accurate and current information about voter registration deadlines, early voting and election dates, and polling locations. I will also recruit and train enough poll workers to work our elections, long before the elections occur. And I will defend the integrity and security of our elections in any arena that I must to protect our right to vote.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Elections are the cornerstone of our democracy and the Clerk of Court is our Chief Elections Officer. Given the real threats to our democracy right now, it is imperative that the Clerk run transparent elections that are free, fair, and fully secure. As Clerk, I will ensure that all election procedures run smoothly. I will publicize accurate and current information about voter registration deadlines, early voting and election dates, and polling locations. I will also recruit and train enough poll workers to work our elections, long before they occur. And I will defend the integrity and security of our elections to protect our right to vote - no matter what.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

An elected official must be qualified for the specific job they are seeking, and they must understand the seriousness of the office they are running for. Decades of my life, and decades of the lives of many people I have represented, have been lost to prison because the people in charge of maintaining our records do not understand that the papers they handle have real consequences for people. I obtained my bachelor's degree and my law degree specifically so that I would be qualified to run for Clerk of Court. And I am now so qualified to serve in our criminal legal system that Loyola University of New Orleans College of Law chose to give me an honorary law degree this spring. I have developed legal theories and preserved records for cases that were subsequently won at the United States Supreme Court. I understand the seriousness of this job, and have spend decades becoming qualified to perform it. I am the opposite of our current Clerk - and when I am elected, the people of our city will immediately begin to experience that difference.

What legacy would you like to leave?

My legal work during my incarceration has changed constitutional law throughout this country, and directly affected state law in Louisiana as well. I am proud of that legacy. In this next chapter, I would like to continue to educate our community so that the people of New Orleans to understand what the Clerk of Criminal District Court does - and when they vote for their Clerk, I would like their votes to be based on whether the Clerk has actually performed their job in the manner that all of us deserve.

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.

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