Two candidates qualified Wednesday in the race to replace Warren Montgomery as the district attorney on the northshore, the most high-profile of the local elections set to take place in March as Louisiana voters cast ballots in the state's 2024 primary for U.S. president.
Interim District Attorney Collin Sims and attorney Vincent Wynne are running to replace Montgomery, district attorney for the 22nd Judicial District, who died last month after a battle with cancer. Both are Republicans.
Qualifying runs through Friday, and a third candidate, Judge Raymond Childress, also a Republican, is expected to officially enter the race before then.
The race to replace Montgomery is expected to be the most closely watched in the metro area amid a smattering of other races. Candidates will be running for two judgeships in Orleans Parish; a judge’s seat in Jefferson Parish; municipal elections in Grand Isle, Madisonville and Mandeville; and a number of seats on the Democratic and Republican Party committees.
For each of those races, a general election will take place on April 27 if no candidate secures over 50% of the vote in the primary.
The March 23 election also will feature Louisiana's presidential primaries, where Democratic and Republican voters will cast ballots for nominees. President Joe Biden, with no major challengers, will likely lead the Democratic ticket; former president Donald Trump is leading in national polls to be the Republican nominee.
In the New Orleans metro area, the race to replace Montgomery will see Sims, head of the DA’s criminal division, face off against Wynne, a well-known attorney in St. Tammany who ran unsuccessfully against Montgomery for the position in 2020. Childress, who was set to retire from his seat in the 22nd Judicial District Court, has announced he’s running, too.
The northshore district attorney represents the 22nd Judicial District, which includes both St. Tammany and Washington parishes.
Other races
In Orleans Parish, qualifying is underway for two judgeships: the Domestic Section 2 seat on the Civil District Court, and the Section C seat on the 1st City Court.
In Jefferson Parish, candidates are qualifying for the Division D judge’s seat in the 24th Judicial District.
In Grand Isle, qualifying is open for the mayor’s election — no one qualified for that race on Wednesday — as well as chief of police and five seats on the town council.
Also open for qualifying are the races for mayor of Mandeville — where the incumbent, Clay Madden, is so far the only candidate to qualify — and Madisonville — where Jean Pelloat, also the incumbent, is also the only candidate officially in the race.
Both municipalities will also hold elections for council in March. And there’s one open seat on the Covington city council, for the seat vacated when Rick Smith won his seat on parish council.