Susan Hutson

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Susan Hutson

Democratic Party

Orleans Parish Sheriff

Tenure

2022 - Present

Term ends

2026

Years in position

3

Predecessor

Marlin Gusman

Report an officeholder change

Elections and appointments

Last elected

December 11, 2021

Education

Bachelor's

University of Pennsylvania, 1989

Law

Tulane University School of Law, 1992

Personal

Birthplace

Philadelphia, Pa.

Religion

Christian

Contact

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Susan Hutson (Democratic Party) is the Orleans Parish Sheriff in Louisiana. She assumed office on May 2, 2022. Her current term ends on May 4, 2026.

Hutson (Democratic Party) ran for re-election for Orleans Parish Sheriff in Louisiana. She lost in the primary on October 11, 2025.

Biography

Susan Hutson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1989 and a J.D. from Tulane University School of Law in 1992.

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.

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Orleans Parish Sheriff

The following candidates ran in the primary for Orleans Parish Sheriff on October 11, 2025.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Michelle Woodfork (D)	52.9	54,019
	Submit photo	Edwin Shorty Jr. (D)	20.8	21,199
		Susan Hutson (D)	17.1	17,469
		Ernesteayo Lee (R)	4.5	4,614
	Submit photo	Julian Parker (D)	2.4	2,431
	Submit photo	Robert Murray (D)	2.3	2,369

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. Source 1 Source 2	Total votes: 102,101
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

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2021

See also: City elections in New Orleans, Louisiana (2021)

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 Sheriff

Susan Hutson defeated incumbent Marlin Gusman in the general election for Orleans Parish Sheriff on December 11, 2021.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Susan Hutson (D)	53.3	31,975
	Submit photo	Marlin Gusman (D)	46.7	27,987

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 59,962
= 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 Orleans Parish Sheriff

Incumbent Marlin Gusman and Susan Hutson defeated Christopher Williams, Janet Hays, and Quentin Brown in the primary for Orleans Parish Sheriff on November 13, 2021.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Marlin Gusman (D)	47.7	35,903
✔		Susan Hutson (D)	35.4	26,666
	Submit photo	Christopher Williams (D)	8.8	6,651
		Janet Hays (No party preference)	4.3	3,230
		Quentin Brown (Independent)	3.7	2,791

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 75,241
= 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.

Campaign themes

2025

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Susan Hutson did not complete Ballotpedia's 2025 Candidate Connection survey.

2021

Susan Hutson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Hutson'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 currently the President of the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE), the largest organization of its kind dedicated to police oversight and holding law enforcement accountable. Before running for sheriff, I was the Independent Police Monitor for the City of New Orleans where I secured dozens of oversight victories on behalf of the residents of New Orleans, including the establishment of a critical incidents investigation team, to probe officer-involved shootings; securing the release of body camera footage; and opening investigations into retaliation complaints from the public and police officers. I provided civilian oversight to a police department with years of mistrust ironed into its reputation and began the process of emphasizing justice over criminal in the criminal justice system. Before New Orleans, I worked at the Los Angeles Police Commission’s Office of the Inspector General as an Assistant Inspector General and as the Acting Police Monitor at the Office of the Police Monitor in Austin, Texas. Prior to working in police oversight, I was a general practitioner, defense counsel, prosecutor, and assistant city attorney handling labor matters. I hold an undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a J.D. from Tulane University School of Law.

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?

• As the first African American woman to run for Sheriff in Orleans Parish, I am running on a platform of change which includes the 3 C's of Corrections: Care, Custody and Control. The safety of employees and incarcerated persons will be my sole responsibility as Sheriff. After Hurricane Katrina, this community set out to reinvent itself and made a lot of progress, including reducing the size of the jail by law. The Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office, which is currently under a federal consent decree has stubbornly fought all change. The jail is not safe, as violence and drugs still abound, there is substandard medical and mental health care, and employees are not valued, respected, or protected. Additionally, sexual harassment of African Ameri
• I am committed to this community and its leadership. My platform is about having representation from our entire community, to create a more fair and equitable sheriff’s office and criminal justice system. My vision is to carry out my platform with Accountability, Transparency and Community Leadership. We have to be transparent about all the issues at the jail, be accountable for fixing them and utilize our amazing community’s leadership and talent to make the changes. My core values as a person of faith are all about treating our neighbors with humanity, dignity, and respect. We can help those in jail do better, with medical substance abuse treatment, proper mental health care, and opportunities once they leave the jail. This will help
• We will recruit and hire a representative staff and pay a living wage to our employees. We will improve their working conditions and get their buy-in for improving the living conditions of those detained and incarcerated. I have embraced bold progressive values and policies on equity and reform as a part of my vision of accountability, transparency, and community leadership, which will only build power for our amazing and diverse community as we work to dismantle the incarceration footprint in our city. We can do better. We MUST do better. And, if not now… when?

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

As Sheriff, I will RESPECT THE SIXTH AMENDMENT and end the unfair and invasive practice of recording attorney/client phone calls. It is important to do so to make our system of justice more fair.

I will STOP EXTRACTING WEALTH FROM THE INCARCERATED through phone calls, parking, and commissary. It is my priority to put an end to this tax on the families of incarcerated persons, which is not only just, but long overdue.

My platform includes providing for FREE, OPEN VISITATION. I know that staying connected to family and friends is proven to reduce recidivism.

I believe in HELP, NOT HANDCUFFS and I will not build a mental health jail. I will instead work to build a mental health/substance abuse treatment facility outside of the jail that anyone in the community can use.

I will assess incarcerated persons upon entry at the jail to UNDERSTAND ALL OF THEIR NEEDS which contribute to becoming incarcerated, in order to provide appropriate care.

As the Sheriff, I will work to END SUBSTANDARD MEDICAL CARE and create a public health provision model versus the existing for-profit, earnings-at-any-cost model.

I will ensure GENDER-CONFIRMING HOUSING based on gender identity to avoid putting trans, non-binary, and gender-nonconforming persons at greater risk for harm.

I will STOP ALL VOLUNTARY ICE COOPERATION programs. Studies and data show us that coordination with ICE agents has a negative effect on public safety.

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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