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, which has been the state capital of Louisiana continuously since 1849.
, 34th chief executive of Baton Rouge.
, 63rd chief executive of Baton Rouge.
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. Selectmen were up for election annually.
Early mayors also served one-year terms. The office had a two-year term in the 1880s and was increased to four years in duration in 1898.
The first mayoral election in 1846 was between James Cooper and John Dufrocq, a Whig Party member who won the balloting. In 1856 another noteworthy race occurred, this time between Know Nothing mayor Joseph Monget and his Democratic challenger, Edward Cousinard; after actually tying in the popular vote, the commissioners of election decided to award the election to the incumbent. Cousinard later won the mayor's seat himself in the 1857 election.
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. It was also largely stripped of influence at one point by the First Reconstruction Act, which was issued in 1867.
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, who was facing an overwhelmingly Democratic-controlled board of selectmen—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. 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 and one recognized primarily by native white Democrats. Although the term "city council" had been used on occasion before, the board of selectmen really seems to have begun transitioning over to the use of the term under the Republican mayor that year, 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 Republicans had shown improvements in their organizational efforts 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. 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. This compromise was largely acceptable to both sides, although a rogue faction of the Democrats did attempt to hold their own election for the council.
After making it through 1873 relatively peacefully, Kellogg also appointed the mayor in 1874. 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 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.. In 1949 the governments of the city and the Parish of East Baton Rouge were largely consolidated under then-mayor S. Powers Higginbotham, and in 1982 they were fully merged into a single governing body. At that time, the title of "mayor" changed to "mayor-president," 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.
No families have dominated the office over the years, although Baton Rouge's longest-serving mayor—Wade Bynum —did replace his brother Turner Bynum after he died in office, and Mary Webb was later appointed by the city council to complete the term of her late husband, Jesse Webb, Jr. 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 Sharon Weston Broome.

List of magistrates, mayors, and mayor-presidents

Below is a list of Baton Rouge's chief executives—magistrates from 1818 to 1846, 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. All city mayors and city-parish mayor-presidents were otherwise popularly elected, unless specified below.
No.MayorTerm startTerm endPartyNote
1William Williams18181820first magistrate
2Francois "Palo" Gardere18201821
3William Williams18211822
4William Wykoff, Jr.18221823
5Jason Candee18231824
6Bartholomew T. Beauregard18241828
7William Grivet18281829
8William R. Willis18291832
9John Reid18321833
10William R. Willis18331834
11P. A. Walker18341835
12Raphael Legendre18351836
13Stephen Henderson, Jr.18361836resigned
14Raphael Legendre18361838
15William Gil, Sr.18381839
16James Cooper18391843
17Abel Waddill18431844
18James Cooper18441845
19John Reid18451846final magistrate
20John Robert Dufrocq18461855Whigfirst mayor; 1854: re-elected unopposed
21Joseph Monget18551857Know Nothing1856: appointed, by commissioners of election, due to election resulting in a tie vote of 223–223
22Edward Cousinard18571859Democratic
23James Essex Mason Elam18591862Democratic
24Benjamin Frankin Bryan18621862Democraticresigned, due to Battle of Baton Rouge
25Jordan Holt18621865Democratic1862: appointed, by board of selectmen; 1863–1865: city administered by Union occupation troops, rather than by municipal government; 1865: reappointed, by Gov. J. Madison Wells; resigned, to serve in Louisiana House of Representatives
26James Essex Mason Elam18651869Democratic1865: appointed, by Wells; 1867: election canceled, due to order by Gen. Philip Sheridan in accordance with the implementation of the First Reconstruction Act
27Oliver P. Skolfield18691870Democratic
28James Essex Mason Elam18701871Democratic
29Loyeau Berhel18711871Republicancertified elected, by Democratic-controlled commissioners of election; commissioned to assume office, by Gov. Henry Clay Warmoth but was eventually removed after charges of voting irregularities upheld by Democratic-controlled electoral investigative committee; first African American mayor; first Republican mayor
30James Essex Mason Elam18711872Democratic1871: retroactively declared elected by Democratic-controlled electoral investigative committee
31 *Henry Schorten18721876Republican1872: certified elected, by commissioners of election and remained in office after charges of voting irregularities dismissed by Democratic-controlled electoral investigating committee; 1873: appointed, by Gov. William Pitt Kellogg; 1874: reappointed, by Kellogg; first white Republican mayor; first Republican mayor to serve full term
32 *Jordan Holt18721872Democraticacting mayor; after his and Democratic-controlled Board of Selectmen's endorsement of petition signed by prominent local citizens, election results were voided, by Warmoth
33 *James Essex Mason Elam18721873Democraticcommissioned to assume office, by Warmoth; resigned, due to the creation of the bipartisan "compromise list of candidates for the city government" for Kellogg to appoint
34Leon Jastremski18761882Democratic
35Joseph C. Charrotte18821883Democraticdied in office
36John J. Wax18831883Democraticacting mayor
37William S. Booth18831884Democratic
38Gustavus L. "Gus" Vay18841888Democratic
39Benjamin Franklin Bryan18881890Democratic
40Gustavus "Gus" L. Vay18901894Democratic
41Benjamin Franklin Bryan18941896Democratic
42John J. Wax18961898Democratic
43Robert A. Hart18981902Democratic
44Robert L. Pruyn19021902Democraticresigned, due to commitments of his building contractor business
45Benjamin Raphael "Ben" Mayer, Sr.19021903Democraticacting mayor; first known Jewish mayor
46Wade Hampton Bynum19031910Democraticlongest-serving mayor
47Jules Roux19101913Democraticdied in office
48Isidore Larguier III19131913Democraticacting mayor
49Alex Grouchy, Jr.19131922Democratic1913: appointed, by city council
50Turner Bynum19221922Democraticdied in office
51Louis J. Ricaud19221923Democraticacting mayor
52Wade Hampton Bynum19231941Democraticlongest-serving mayor
53Frederick Saugrain "Fred" LeBlanc, Sr.19411944Democraticresigned, to serve as Louisiana Attorney General
54Sargent Powers Higginbotham19441953Democratic1944: appointed, by Gov. Jimmie Davis; final mayor; 1949: first mayor-president
55Jesse Lynn Webb, Jr.19531956Democraticdied in office
56Frank J. McConnell19561956Democraticacting mayor
57Mary Estus Jones Webb19561957Democraticappointed, by city council; first female mayor
58John "Jack" Christian19571965Democratic
59Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Dumas19651981Democraticresident of Baker at time of election
60James Patrick "Pat" Screen, Jr.19811989Democratic
61Thomas Edward "Tom Ed" McHugh19892001Democraticresident of Zachary at time of election; changed party affiliation to Republican in 1995; first Republican mayor since Reconstruction Era
61Thomas Edward "Tom Ed" McHugh19892001Republicanresident of Zachary at time of election; changed party affiliation to Republican in 1995; first Republican mayor since Reconstruction Era
62Bobby Ray Simpson20012005Republicanmayor of Baker at time of election
63Melvin Lee "Kip" Holden20052017Democraticfirst African American mayor to serve full term; first Democratic African American mayor
64Sharon Weston Broome2017PresentDemocraticfirst elected female mayor; first female African American mayor

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, effectively making the Holt and Elam administrations a rump government.