The general election in Louisiana took place on November 21, 2015. Primary elections took place on October 24, 2015, and the filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in the primary was September 10, 2015.^[1]

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.

Louisiana's 2015 judicial elections were special elections that were set to fill vacancies on the courts. Elections were held for seats on three district courts. The winner of the contest for the 16th Judicial District will replace Judge James McClelland, who passed away in March.^[2] Charlotte Hughes-Foster, the sole candidate to file for the 21st Judicial District, replaced Bruce Bennett, who retired at the end of his term.^[3] In the 30th Judicial District, the vacancy to be filled was created by the death of Judge James R. Mitchell.^[4]

There were also elections for Justice of the Peace Courts in several parishes. Contested elections occurred in Jackson, Plaquemines, St. Charles, St. John the Baptist, St. Landry and St. Tammany parishes.^[5]

Election dates

Filing deadline: September 10, 2015
Primary: October 24, 2015
General: November 21, 2015

Candidates: Contested

Map of Louisiana's judicial districts. Click to enlarge

16th Judicial District

Primary:
Eddie Guidry A
Nicholas LaRocca A
Lewis Pitman A

General:

General:

St. Landry Parish Justice Court

Primary:

Suzanne Belleau

Paul Dupont

St. Tammany Parish Justice Court

Primary:
Angela L. Brown A
Charlette Hayes A
Michael Tassin A

General:

Angela L. Brown

Michael Tassin

Candidates: Uncontested

Note: Unopposed candidates are automatically elected without appearing the ballot.^[6]

21st Judicial District

Charlotte Hughes-Foster

Calcasieu Parish Justice Court

Kizzy Aucoin Sanford (I)

Catahoula Parish Justice Court

Richard Price

Grant Parish Justice Court

Suzanne Mucha

Webster Parish Justice Court

Tammy Burton (Ward 3)

Thomas Klimkiewicz (Ward 5)

Election results

General election

	2016 → ← 2014
Judicial Elections
Judicial elections, 2015
Judicial election dates
Candidates by state

16th Judicial District, Division D, General Election, 2015
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Lewis Pitman	52.5%	18,111
	Republican	Eddie Guidry	47.5%	16,366
Total Votes				34,477
Source: Louisiana Secretary of State, "Official Election Results," accessed December 4, 2015

St. John the Baptist Parish Justice Court, District 3, General Election, 2015
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Rob Snyder	51.5%	1,114
	Democratic	Darlene Triche-Hall	48.5%	1,051
Total Votes				2,165
Source: Louisiana Secretary of State, "Official Election Results," accessed December 4, 2015

St. Tammany Parish Justice Court, Ward 8, General Election, 2015
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Michael Tassin	67.4%	6,374
	Democratic	Angela L. Brown	32.6%	3,087
Total Votes				9,461
Source: Louisiana Secretary of State, "Official Election Results," accessed December 4, 2015

Primary election

16th Judicial District, Division D, Primary Election, 2015
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Eddie Guidry	36.0%	13,215
	Republican	Lewis Pitman	35.7%	13,120
	Republican	Nicholas LaRocca	28.3%	10,420
Total Votes				36,755
Source: Louisiana Secretary of State, "Official Election Results," accessed December 4, 2015

30th Judicial District, Division C, Primary Election, 2015
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Other	Scott Westerchil	62.6%	6,557
	Republican	Lisa Nelson	37.4%	3,913
Total Votes				10,470
Source: Louisiana Secretary of State, "Official Election Results," accessed December 4, 2015

Jackson Parish Justice Court, District A, Primary Election, 2015
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	No party	Thomas L. Faber	51.6%	316
	No party	Patricia Joye	48.4%	296
Total Votes				612
Source: Louisiana Secretary of State, "Official Election Results," accessed December 4, 2015

Plaquemines Parish Justice Court, Ward 1, Primary Election, 2015
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	No party	Jill White Baumy	51.6%	99
	Other	Earl Rodney Sino	48.4%	93
Total Votes				192
Source: Louisiana Secretary of State, "Official Election Results," accessed December 4, 2015

St. Charles Parish Justice Court, District 1, Primary Election, 2015
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Aleshia Smith	57.1%	1,162
	Democratic	Edna Campbell-Bridges	42.9%	874
Total Votes				2,036
Source: Louisiana Secretary of State, "Official Election Results," accessed December 4, 2015

St. John the Baptist Parish Justice Court, District 3, Primary Election, 2015
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Rob Snyder	44.8%	871
	Democratic	Darlene Triche-Hall	31.0%	603
	Democratic	Gabrielle McKarry	24.2%	470
Total Votes				1,944
Source: Louisiana Secretary of State, "Official Election Results," accessed December 4, 2015

St. Landry Parish Justice Court, District 7, Primary Election, 2015
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Paul Dupont	55.2%	523
	Democratic	Suzanne Belleau	44.8%	424
Total Votes				947
Source: Louisiana Secretary of State, "Official Election Results," accessed December 4, 2015

St. Tammany Parish Justice Court, Ward 8, Primary Election, 2015
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Michael Tassin	47.5%	3,307
	Democratic	Angela L. Brown	26.3%	1,829
	Republican	Charlette Hayes	26.2%	1,819
Total Votes				6,955
Source: Louisiana Secretary of State, "Official Election Results," accessed December 4, 2015

Process

Primary election

Judges compete in a primary election against candidates of all parties. If no candidate receives over 50 percent of the vote (a "majority vote"), the top two candidates run against each other in the general election. If a candidate does receive a majority vote in the primary, he or she is declared elected as an unopposed candidate and will not be listed on the general election ballot.^[6]

The timing of Louisiana's primary elections vary depending on the year an election takes place. During odd-numbered years, the primary is scheduled in October with a runoff election held if necessary in November. An even-numbered year election starts with a primary election in November with a runoff election held if necessary in December.^[7]

For two or more open seats

In the event that candidates are competing for more than one open seat on a court, the majority vote is decided by "dividing the total votes cast for all of the candidates by the number of offices to be filled [and] dividing the result so obtained by two," according to the Louisiana Secretary of State website.^[6]