Sharon Weston Broome made history this weekend after she was elected as the Democratic Mayor-President of East Baton Rouge Parish, La. This makes Ms. Broome the first Black woman mayor of the state capital of Baton Rouge and she will preside over other smaller cities within the parish as well.
NOLA.com reports:
Broome, a Democrat and former state senator from north Baton Rouge, narrowly defeated White, a Republican from the suburban city of Central, becoming the first female in parish history to be elected mayor-president. She will replace the term-limited Kip Holden in January, giving this politically divided parish its fourth consecutive term of Democratic leadership.
“She won the election because she did so well in what I call the ‘Gissel Belt,'” political analyst John Couvillon said after studying precinct results. “Sharon shrewdly courted this block of well-educated, politically moderate, largely white voters in south Baton Rouge and got their vote in the runoff.”
Mayor Holden, the parish’s first Mayor-President, will be leaving office in 2017 to make way for Broome’s administration. And making history seems to be a trend for Broome, who was the first Black woman to serve as a senator for the Louisiana State Senate for District 15. Broome, a Chicago native, is also a former newscaster.
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Photo: Instagram
