List of mayors of Baton Rouge, Louisiana

The office of Mayor-President of Baton Rouge, Louisiana was formally created in 1846 as the chief executive of the City of Baton Rouge, Louisiana,^[1] which has been the state capital of Louisiana continuously since 1849 (except for a brief time during and after the Civil War when Opelousas, Shreveport, or New Orleans held that title).

Leon Jastremski, 34th chief executive of Baton Rouge.

Sharon Weston Broome, 64th chief executive of Baton Rouge (2017–2025)

Some of the men and women who have held the title of mayor in the city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Background

Baton Rouge was granted the right to incorporate in 1817 under legislation approved by Louisiana's second governor, Jacques Villeré. The city was chartered the following year and led by a magistrate who was chosen among the popularly-elected, five-member board of selectmen.^[2] Selectmen were up for election annually.^[3]

Early mayors also served one-year terms.^[4] The office had a two-year term in the 1880s^[5] and was increased to four years in duration in 1898.^[6]

The first mayoral election in 1846 was between James Cooper (who had previously served as a magistrate^[6]) and John Dufrocq,^[1] a Whig Party member^[7] who won the balloting.^[6] In 1856 another noteworthy race occurred, this time between Know Nothing mayor Joseph Monget and his Democratic challenger, Edward Cousinard;^[8] after actually tying in the popular vote, the commissioners of election decided to award the election to the incumbent.^[9] Cousinard later won the mayor's seat himself in the 1857 election.^[6]

The city's government essentially ceased to exist for the duration of the Civil War, once the Battle of Baton Rouge had begun in 1862.^[10]: 250 It was also largely stripped of influence at one point by the First Reconstruction Act, which was issued in 1867.^[11]

Multiple mayoral elections during the Reconstruction Era were disputed. After the 1871 election Gov. Henry Clay Warmoth did what he legally could from the temporary capitol in New Orleans to briefly prop up the new African American Republican mayor,^[12] who was facing an overwhelmingly Democratic-controlled board of selectmen^[10]: 254—but in 1872 Warmoth himself was facing a mounting impeachment effort and forced to broaden what remained of his support by reaching out to Democrats who had a much more solid base in Louisiana than the Republicans did; he declared the disputed 1872 election results null and void, and awarded the state's commission to the Democratic candidate.^[13] Ultimately, the 1872–73 term essentially ended up with two separately-functioning city governments, one recognized primarily by African American and pro-Union white Republicans (including so-called "carpetbaggers" and "scalawags") and one recognized primarily by native white Democrats.^{[10]: 253–54} Although the term "city council" had been used on occasion before,^[14] the board of selectmen really seems to have begun transitioning over to the use of the term under the Republican mayor that year,^[15] perhaps in anticipation of needing to differentiate it from the competing board of selectmen that the Democrats were in the process of setting up (the board finally formally adopted the title "city council" in 1874^[16]). The Republicans had shown improvements in their organizational efforts (and electoral strength in general) by being able to win the 1872 election without Warmoth's help—and then by holding a share of the government for the duration of the term. While the Democratic mayor, James Elam, had been willing to fight to hang on to his seat after the disputed votes of 1871 and 1872, he either determined that he had no chance at the ballot box in the 1873 annual municipal elections or he simply no longer felt up to the challenge any more (he did, in fact, die only several months after the scheduled election date^[17]). Shortly before the election was to be held, African American state senator J. Henri Burch, a prominent area Republican, met with Elam, and they negotiated a compromise where Elam would resign his position and support new governor William Pitt Kellogg's appointment of the Republican incumbent to the mayor's seat—along with three Republicans and three Democrats to the city council (as selected by a conference committee).^[18] This compromise was largely acceptable to both sides (very rare for Reconstruction), although a rogue faction of the Democrats did attempt to hold their own election for the council (which failed to draw many to the polls and apparently quickly faded away).^[19]

After making it through 1873 relatively peacefully, Kellogg also appointed the mayor in 1874.^[10]: 255 The Republicans did win a municipal election in their own right in 1875, but in 1876 the Democrats were able to use various forms of intimidation, including by former members of the old Knights of the White Camelia, to regain the mayor's seat^[20]: 224 for the first of 28 consecutive Democratic chief executives.

In 1914 the city began using a city commission government under then-mayor Alex Grouchy, Jr.^[2] (it had already been in the works before the sudden death of Mayor Jules Roux the year before).^[21] In 1949 the governments of the city and the Parish of East Baton Rouge were largely consolidated under then-mayor S. Powers Higginbotham,^[22] and in 1982 they were fully merged into a single governing body (similar to a consolidated city-county, although the municipalities of Baker, Central, and Zachary remain self-governing). At that time, the title of "mayor" changed to "mayor-president,"^[23] being that they were now both mayor of Baton Rouge and president of East Baton Rouge Parish. Indeed, three recent mayor-presidents resided in Baker or Zachary at the time of their elections, giving them the distinction of serving as mayor of Baton Rouge without actually living there. No candidate from the City of Central has been elected mayor-president yet, although Mack A. "Bodi" White, Jr. came very close to doing so in 2016 by receiving 48.2% of the vote.^[24]

No families have dominated the office over the years, although Baton Rouge's longest-serving mayor—Wade Bynum (24 years over two different periods of time)^[9]—did replace his brother Turner Bynum after he died in office,^[25] and Mary Webb was later appointed by the city council to complete the term of her late husband, Jesse Webb, Jr.^[26] Although most of Baton Rouge's mayors have been white male Democrats, the last four mayor-presidents have included multiple Republicans and African Americans, as well as a woman. The current mayor-president is Sid Edwards.^[27]

List of magistrates, mayors, and mayor-presidents

Below is a list of Baton Rouge's chief executives—magistrates from 1818 to 1846,^[28][2] mayors from 1846 to 1949, and mayor-presidents from 1949 to present. The town magistrate was an appointive office, determined from within the elected five-member board of selectmen.^[2] All city mayors and city-parish mayor-presidents were otherwise popularly elected, unless specified below.

No.	Image	Mayor	Term start	Term end	Party	Note
1		William Williams	1818	1820		first magistrate
2		Francois "Palo" Gardere	1820	1821
3		William Williams	1821	1822
4		William Wykoff	1822	1823
5		Jason Candee	1823	1824
6		Bartholomew Beauregard	1824	1828
7		William Grivet	1828	1829
8		William R. Willis	1829	1832
9		John Reid	1832	1833
10		William R. Willis	1833	1834
11		P. A. Walker	1834	1835
12		Raphael Legendre	1835	1836
13		Stephen Henderson	1836	1836[16]		resigned[16]
14		Raphael Legendre	1836	1838
15		William Gil	1838	1839
16		James Cooper	1839	1843
17		Abel Waddill	1843	1844
18		James Cooper	1844	1845
19		John Reid	1845	1846		final magistrate
20		John R. Dufrocq	1846	1855	Whig[7]	first mayor;[6] 1854: re-elected unopposed[29]
21		Joseph Monget	1855	1857	Know Nothing[8]	1856: appointed, by commissioners of election, due to election resulting in a tie vote of 223–223[9]
22		Edward Cousinard	1857	1859	Democratic[8]
23		James Essex Elam	1859	1862	Democratic
24		Benjamin Bryan	1862	1862	Democratic	resigned, due to Battle of Baton Rouge[9]
25		Jordan Holt	1862	1865	Democratic[30]	1862: appointed, by board of selectmen;[9] 1863–1865: city administered by Union occupation troops, rather than by municipal government;[10]: 250  1865: reappointed, by Gov. J. Madison Wells; resigned, to serve in Louisiana House of Representatives[9]
26		James Essex Elam	1865	1869	Democratic[10]: 251–52	1865: appointed, by Wells;[10]: 251  1867: election canceled, due to order by Gen. Philip Sheridan[10]: 252  in accordance with the implementation of the First Reconstruction Act[11]
27		Oliver P. Skolfield	1869	1870	Democratic[31]
28		James Essex Elam	1870	1871	Democratic[10]: 253
29		Loyeau Berhel	1871	1871	Republican[10]: 253	certified elected, by Democratic-controlled commissioners of election; commissioned to assume office, by Gov. Henry Clay Warmoth[12] but was eventually removed after charges of voting irregularities upheld by Democratic-controlled electoral investigative committee;[10]: 254  first African American mayor; first Republican mayor[10]: 253  His surname is sometimes rendered as "Brahill".[32]
30		James Essex Elam	1871	1872	Democratic	1871: retroactively declared elected by Democratic-controlled electoral investigative committee[10]: 254
31 *		Henry Schorten	1872	1876	Republican[33]	1872: certified elected, by commissioners of election[15] and remained in office after charges of voting irregularities dismissed by Democratic-controlled electoral investigating committee;[10]: 254  1873: appointed, by Gov. William Pitt Kellogg; 1874: reappointed, by Kellogg;[10]: 255  first white Republican mayor; first Republican mayor to serve full term
32 *		Jordan Holt	1872	1872	Democratic	acting mayor;[15] after his and Democratic-controlled Board of Selectmen's endorsement of petition signed by prominent local citizens, election results were voided, by Warmoth[34]
33 *		James Essex Elam	1872	1873	Democratic[33]	commissioned to assume office, by Warmoth;[13] resigned, due to the creation of the bipartisan "compromise list of candidates for the city government" for Kellogg to appoint[18]
34		Leon Jastremski	1876	1882	Democratic[10]: 256
35		Joseph Charrotte†	1882	1883	Democratic	died in office[6]
36		John Wax	1883	1883	Democratic	acting mayor[28]
37		William S. Booth	1883	1884	Democratic
38		Gustavus L. Vay	1884	1888	Democratic
39		Benjamin Franklin Bryan	1888	1890	Democratic
40		Gustavus L. Vay	1890	1894	Democratic
41		Benjamin Franklin Bryan	1894	1896	Democratic[35]
42		John Wax	1896	1898	Democratic
43		Robert A. Hart	1898	1902	Democratic
44		Robert L. Pruyn	1902	1902	Democratic	resigned, due to commitments of his building contractor business[36]
45		Ben Mayer	1902	1903	Democratic	acting mayor;[37][28] first known Jewish mayor[38]
46		Wade Bynum	1903	1910	Democratic	longest-serving mayor (also served 1923–41)
47		Jules Roux†	1910	1913	Democratic	died in office[6]
48		Isidore Larguier	1913	1913	Democratic	acting mayor[39][28]
49		Alex Grouchy	1913	1922	Democratic	1913: appointed, by city council[40]
50		Turner Bynum†	1922	1922	Democratic	died in office[6]
51		Louis Ricaud	1922	1923	Democratic	acting mayor[2][28]
52		Wade Bynum	1923	1941	Democratic	longest-serving mayor (also served 1903–10)
53		Fred S. LeBlanc	1941	1944	Democratic	resigned, to serve as Louisiana Attorney General[41]
54		Sargent Higginbotham	1944	1953	Democratic	1944: appointed, by Gov. Jimmie Davis;[41] final mayor; 1949: first mayor-president[22]
55		Jesse L. Webb, Jr.†	1953	1956	Democratic	died in office[26]
56		Frank J. McConnell	1956	1956	Democratic	acting mayor[42][28]
57		Mary Estus Jones Webb	1956	1957	Democratic	appointed, by city council; first female mayor[26]
58		Jack Christian	1957	1965	Democratic
59		Woodrow Dumas	1965	1981	Democratic	resident of Baker at time of election
60		Pat Screen	1981	1989	Democratic	title renamed from Mayor to Mayor-President on January 1, 1983 after consolidation of the city and parish councils into the 12-member Metro Council
61		Thomas Edward McHugh	1989	2001	Democratic	resident of Zachary at time of election; changed party affiliation to Republican in 1995;[43] first Republican mayor since Reconstruction Era
					Republican
62		Bobby Ray Simpson	2001	2005	Republican	mayor of Baker at time of election
63		Kip Holden	2005	2017	Democratic	first African American mayor to serve full term; first Democratic African American mayor (Republican Loyeau Berhel served one year in 1871)
64		Sharon Weston Broome	2017	2025	Democratic	first elected female mayor; first female African American mayor; first female mayor to serve full term
65		Sid Edwards	2025	Incumbent	Republican

Note: an asterisk denotes that the 1872–73 mayoral term featured two competing claims to the title, one from a Republican-controlled city government led by Henry Schorten and one from a Democratic-controlled city government led by Jordan Holt and, later, James Essex Mason Elam; for what it is worth, Schorten physically occupied the actual mayor's chair in the city hall,^[44] effectively making the Holt and Elam administrations a rump government.

See also

• Timeline of Baton Rouge, Louisiana