SHREVEPORT, La. — The race for Shreveport mayor is going to a second round. Incumbent Mayor Tom Arceneaux and Caddo Parish Commissioner Stormy Gage-Watts finished first and second in a seven-candidate field Tuesday, and with no one clearing a majority, the two will meet again in a Dec. 12 runoff.
Arceneaux, a Republican, led with 19,401 votes, or 36%, in unofficial returns. Gage-Watts, a Democrat, was next with 12,331 votes, or 23%.
Behind them, Republican John-Paul Young drew 9,945 votes, about 18%, and Democrat Tammy Phelps took 8,723 votes, or 16%. Democrat Michael D. Williams had 2,666 votes, Democrat Chaunta Mero had 1,101 and Siavash Fakhriravari, who has no party, had 386.
Under Louisiana rules, the top two finishers advance whenever no candidate gets more than half the vote.
Arceneaux is wrapping up his first four-year term. A lawyer by trade, he sat on the Shreveport City Council from 1982 to 1990. Gage-Watts has represented her district on the Caddo Parish Commission since 2015 and is now in her third term. She runs Stormy’s Car Care and is an independent U-Haul dealer.
Voters also settled two money questions on the same ballot. A Caddo Parish bond proposition for a $60 million sports complex failed, while a Shreveport downtown development proposition passed with 52% of the vote.
Elsewhere on the parish ballot, Caddo Parish District Attorney James Stewart avoided a runoff of his own in a four-way race, finishing with 54% to 41% for state Sen. Alan Seabaugh. Patricia Gilley and Lauren Ray Anderson split the rest. The mayoral runoff will be the only citywide race left for Shreveport voters in December.
Section: More Shreveport LA politics news
Filed under: Shreveport LA Politics News
