BRAC Poll Sends Mayor-President’s Race Into State of Confusion as Edwards SurgesBRAC Poll Sends Mayor-President’s Race

The Baton Rouge Area Chamber, or BRAC, has released the results of a poll on the race for Mayor-President, and it is sending shock waves through the political class in Baton Rouge.

Incumbent Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome, who is seeking her third four-year term, polled a dismal 29 per cent.

Former Rep. Ted James, who has raised more than $800,000 in his bid to replace Broome, was at 23 percent.

The shock for big donors in the parish, who have put their money behind the two far-left candidates, is that the Republican-endorsed candidate, Coach Sid Edwards, was also at 23 percent, although his campaign just started.

Broome and James have been running for the past year, while Edwards, a popular high school football coach, entered the race on the last day of qualifying six weeks ago.

Edwards, a conservative Republican, won the endorsement of the Republican Party of East Baton Rouge Parish and a few weeks later won the unanimous endorsement of the state Republican Party.  That endorsement carried with it $25,000.

When the race appeared to be strictly between Broome and James, many large contractors, engineers, and architects fell in line behind James, because they were committed to “anybody but Sharon Weston Broome.”  However, once Edwards entered the race and Republicans had a good alternative, donors started taking a second look at James and realized that he was even further left that Broome.  

Buyers remorse appears to have set in, especially when they learned that James was State Chairman for Kamala Harris and had a zero percent conservative voting record when he was in the State House.

A poll taken right after qualifying in July showed Broome at 34 percent, James at 18 percent, and Edwards at 10.  Since then, Broome has fallen by five percent and James has grown by exactly that amount, making it appear he gained ground solely at the expense of Broome and without any crossover vote.

On the other hand, Coach Edwards has surged from 10 percent to 23 percent. Asked about the poll, Edwards said his team feels they have been steadily gaining ground and that he will continue to do so through election day. His supporters are predicting he will run a strong first with Broome likely second.

James did not comment on the poll, but Broome did.  Oddly, she said she was pleased with her 29 percent showing and that she was “pulling away” from the field. Actually, her poll numbers have gone down.