Issue #134: How Louisiana's Coroner Elections went on Saturday

A rise in the number of non-partisan coroners

On Saturday, Louisiana held its elections for state and local offices. Easily the most unique state when it comes to elections, Louisiana is best known for its jungle primary system. The state holds its state/local contests in October of the off years. Per the Jungle Primary rules, everyone runs on one ballot, and if no one gets 50%, a runoff is held in mid November.

The state did not generate massive headlines this year due to the lack of major partisan contests. Democrats were not expected to win any statewide posts, with a few races largely fights between several Republicans. Conservative Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards is termed out, and with no strong Democratic bench, the Republicans were guaranteed to flip the chamber. The big question was if Republican Attorney General Jeff Landry would be able to secure 50% and avoid a runoff. Most expected he’d fall short, perhaps get the high 40s. Instead, with Democratic turnout low due to the lack of real competetive races, Landry secured 51%.

Several other statewide races will go to November runoffs, as well as several state legislative and local seats. Plenty has been said in the last 24 hours about the sorry state of the Louisiana Democratic Party and the lack of a bench post-Edwards.

However, that is a topic for Louisiana political experts. I’m not here to talk about the Louisiana Governor election. Instead, I’m here to talk about the races for Parish Coroner!

It’s Halloween Season after all!

Coroners in Louisiana

As most of you know, cause I talk about it all the time, I track the election of county Coroners in America. Starting in 2017, and with a 2021 update, I have tracked the partisan makeup of elected Coroners in the nation. To this day, over 1,000 counties elect their coroner - and do so on a partisan ballot.

You can read my 2021 Deep Dive into the elected position of Coroner here.

Louisiana is actually the reason I initially took an interest in the post of coroner. In 2017, I saw the results for Coroner of Orleans Parish. I made this map, and since then I have become very much obsessed with the office. I delved into the story of this race in my initial 2017 coverage.

The fact that in America we elect coroner is endlessly fascinating. Its a holdover from a different political era, and the number of counties that elect the post has shrunk with time. More and more jurisdictions have the coroner appointed, or use a Medical Examiner system that may cover multiple counties at once. I delve much more into that history in my 2017 and 2021 articles, so go there for more.

Louisiana’s 2023 Coroner Elections

In my 2021 Coroner article, I tracked how the partisan makeup had changed from 2017 in each state. Between those two articles, Louisiana held its local elections. All coroner posts were up in 2019 for four year terms. The lone exception is Orleans, which holds its local elections in 2017, 2021, 2025, and so on. In 2021, the Democratic coroner of Orleans won unopposed.

As a result of the 2019 elections, which were the same year Democrat John Bel Edwards won re-election as Governor, Republicans gained 10 coroner posts. The GOP would hold 43 offices, while NPAs held 12, and Democrats just 9.

Democrats managed to flip only one Parish that year, Terrebonne. This is a deep red Parish, never backing Democrats and being Trump +50. How did this flip happen? Well, after the GOP incumbent passed away, Democrat Charles Ledoux, a doctor, was the only candidate to file.

Thanks to Louisiana’s jungle primary system, and broadly a political culture that is more accepting of independent candidates, there are many non-partisan elected officials. A handful of state lawmakers have been elected as independents, and many county officers run as such. Offices like Coroner, which of course should NOT BE PARTISAN (or really even elected) are a prime target for someone to run as an independent.

Heading into the 2023 local elections, only FIVE parish’s had contested Coroner races. Everyone else was elected unopposed. Already the filings showed Democrats were going to lose several posts and independents were set to make some net gains.

The results showed the GOP hold firm at 43, while NPAs gained 6 and Democrats lost 6; leaving them at just THREE posts.

There was several flips that took place between Republicans and Independents. The table below shows how the flips spaced out. Both NPAs and Republicans took from Democrats, and took from each-other.

Looking specifically at the Parishes were the partisan makeup of the Coroner office changed, I categorized how each flip occurred.

Most changes in the partisan makeup was due to open seats being unopposed. A few party switches occurred as well, but retirements were the biggest culprit. Only two of these Parishes had contested races. In Terrebonne, the Democratic incumbent lost re-election. In Iberia, an NPA candidate beat a GOP candidate for the open seat. I will delve into both below.

Perhaps the most notable Democratic flip to the GOP was in St. John the Baptist. This is a solidly blue parish, and one of the few to not back Landry this year. The reason for the flip is as simple as I laid out in the notes of the table. The longtime incumbent Coroner, Christy Montegut, opted to retire. His son, Christian, who worked in the family medical practice with his father, filed as a Republican. By all accounts he is qualified, so I’d say good on the Parish Democrats for not opting to find a challenger for no reason.

With that broad overview done. Lets look at some of the specific races.

Individual Coroner Elections

So as I mentioned earlier on, Terrebonne was the lone Parish to see Democrats flip the coroner post in 2019. Despite being a DEEP RED PARISH, Charles Ledoux decided to run for re-election, and run with the Democratic Party label. As best I can find, he had no scandals or controversies. He faced an NPA and GOP candidate. While a split may help him, he’d need to win a runoff if he fell under 50%. Could he defy the partisan lean of the Parish? That same day, Landry got 63% in the Parish in the Gubernatorial election; with the main Democrat only at 13%. How much ticket splitting would happen?

Answer. Hardly any. Ledoux barely outperformed the Democratic Gubernatorial candidate, getting just 16% of the vote, coming in THIRD.

Republican Patrick Walker secured 51%, avoiding a runoff. An absolutely brutal loss for an incumbent. These are the types of margins you’d expect for a scandal-plagued office holder. However, it can make a good degree of sense. This is a hyper-red Parish, and Ledoux was basically a first-time candidate. If this was a completely open race, these results wouldn’t be especially shocking. Its hard to see Ledoux having a great deal of name ID or good will after just four years post winning unopposed.

Got to give him credit for trying. In retrospect, though, he probably should have switched parties.

Over in Iberia, an NPA and Republican, both doctors, faced off for the open Coroner post. Despite Jeff Landry getting 70% of the vote in the Parish, NPA candidate Timothy Viator won with 54%.

This is quiet the level of ticket splitting and reflects the state’s willingness to break with party ID at times. While the Terrebonne results showed that backing a Democrat in a deep red region is a tougher stretch, NPA candidates have good shots.

Over in Concordia parish, two NPA candidates faced off for the open coroner post. There is actually some drama behind this race. Incumbent NPA coroner Dennis LaRavia opted not to run for re-election after expressing frustration with funding issues. LaRavia pointed out that his office budget was far lower than other parishes, and that he’d even paid for extra help out of his own pocket. He was frustrated with the lack of help from other elected officials, and the fact that a property tax that would bring money into the office failed in April of this year. Voters overwhelmingly rejected that tax, leaving the office on a shoe-string budget.

LaRavia opted to leave the post, saying he hoped a new tax would pass down the line. Candidates Pamela Poole and Craig Hawn, who’d both filed but dropped out in 2019, ran for the post. While both candidates were NPAs, they represented different demographics. Poole is African-American and Craig Hawn is white. Concordia meanwhile is 40% African-American.

In the race, which as best I can see was a fairly sleepy affair, Poole narrowly won.

It is notable that Poole did best in areas that had backed the tax in April. Those areas are majority-plurality African-American; and were also Poole’s best precincts. While the results do reveal a broad racial polarization, with the results map similar to a race map, Poole was able to win enough white votes to secure the election. Now whether or not Poole will be able to get more funding for the office remains to be seen.

Concordia is not the only parish to deal with funding drama. In St Tammany parish, voters in April also rejected a property tax that goes toward the coroner office.

St Tammany had approved an initial tax a decade ago, with the goal to upgrade equipment. The incumbent coroner, Charles Preston, pushed hard for renewing the tax, arguing that funding was needed to keep the office staffed and responsive to demands. The Parish President and other local officials argued against renewal, adding tension between officials. Preston opted not to run for re-election, ending 10 years at the job. Christopher Tape, a forensic pathologist from the office, won unopposed.

In even more drama, Tape was fired by Preston just a few weeks ago for “violating the confidentiality policy” of the office. There has been many accusations around employee morale under Preston. Either way, Tape will be back in the office early next year when he is sworn in.

That wraps up my Louisiana coroner coverage!

Looking Ahead

We have two weeks left in the Halloween season, and you all are going to get at least one more spooky article from me. On Halloween itself, or maybe the day before, I will have one more coroner-related post. I will delve into the 2022 coroner elections in Kentucky, which in 2021 was still majority-Democratic when it came to the office. I am also working on a preview for the Kentucky Governor election, which takes place next month.

Do the 2022 Kentucky coroner elections give us insight into if Democratic Gov Andy Beshear can win re-election?

Well…. no. But I’m going to talk about them anyway.