List of mayors 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 (who had previously served as a magistrate) 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 (including so-called "carpetbaggers" and "scalawags") 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 board finally formally adopted the title "city council" in 1874). 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). 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). 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).

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. (it had already been in the works before the sudden death of Mayor Jules Roux the year before). 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 (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," 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 (24 years over two different periods of time)—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 Sid Edwards.

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.

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.

References

References

1. (March 25, 1846). "Municipal Elections: To Take Place In April Next". Baton Rouge Democratic Advocate (p. 2).
2. (May 16, 1932). "Baton Rouge Has Had Rapid Growth In Past Century". Baton Rouge State–Times (p. 71).
3. Ernest Gueymard. (June 28, 1976). "Gueymard Notebook: Early BR 'City Father'". Baton Rouge State–Times (sec. A, p. 3).
4. (March 26, 1866). "Mayor's Proclamation: Mayor's Office, City Of Baton Rouge, March 24th, 1866 (I)". Baton Rouge Tri-Weekly Advocate (p. 2).
5. (October 15, 1883). "Death of Mayor Charrotte". Baton Rouge Daily Capitolian–Advocate (p. 2).
6. Evelyn Martindale Thom. (1967). "Baton Rouge Story: An Historical Sketch of Louisiana's Capital City". Baton Rouge Foundation for Historical Louisiana, Inc. (p. 19).
7. (April 7, 1852). "Telegraphed to the New Orleans Picayune: Baton Rouge Mayor". New Orleans Daily Picayune (p. 1).
8. (April 5, 1856). "Things About Town: Municipal Election". Baton Rouge Daily Advocate (p. 2).
9. Ernest Gueymard. (September 22, 1980). "Gueymard Notebook: Bynum was Mayor longest". Baton Rouge State–Times (sec. A, p. 3).
10. (March 23, 1867). "The Situation". Port Allen (La.) Sugar Planter (p. 2).
11. (April 23, 1871). "Why dont (sic) you choose good men from your own race, and run them for office instead of putting these carpet baggers in all the offices". New Orleans Louisianian (p. 2).
12. (April 27, 1872). "The City Council: Official Proceedings—Mayor's Office, City Of Baton Rouge, April, 24, 1872". Baton Rouge Weekly Advocate (p. 3).
13. (March 25, 1860). "The following Ordinances were presented at the last regular meeting of the City Council, but there not being a full meeting, no action was taken on them". Baton Rouge Weekly Advocate.
14. (April 20, 1872). "The City Council: Official Proceedings—Mayor's Office, City Of Baton Rouge, April, 13, 1872". Baton Rouge Weekly Advocate (p. 3).
15. Charles East. (November 14, 1956). "BR Mayors Are Forgotten Men: First to Hold Title Was Dufrocq; Magistrates Served Earlier". Baton Rouge State–Times (sec. B, p. 13).
16. (August 1, 1873). "Notice". New Orleans Daily Picayune (p. 5).
17. (April 3, 1873). "Peace In Baton Rouge: The Lion and the Lamb Lie Down Together—Practical Compromise and Happy Results". New Orleans Republican (p. 1).
18. (April 10, 1873). "Communicated: That Baton Rouge Election". New Orleans Republican (p. 1).
19. Mark F. Bielski. (2016). "Sons of the White Eagle in the American Civil War: Divided Poles in a Divided Nation". Casemate Publishers.
20. (May 13, 1913). "Have You Voted On Commission Government? Baton Rouge is Holding An Election to Change Its Form Government". Baton Rouge New Advocate (p. 1).
21. (January 1, 1949). "Higginbotham Makes History As First Mayor-President". Baton Rouge State–Times (sec. B, p. 25).
22. "Baton Rouge Government". Baton Rouge Government.
23. (2019). "Mack White Jr.". ballotpedia.org.
24. (December 29, 1922). "Wade Bynum To Run For Mayor Of Baton Rouge: Yields to Unanimous Urging for Him to Offer His Services—Means There'll Be No Local Fight—Mr. Bynum is Acceptable to All Shades of Political Opinion". Baton Rouge State–Times (p. 1).
25. (May 5, 1956). "Mrs. Webb Will Serve As Mayor: Widow of Plane Crash Victim Agrees to Finish His Unexpired Term; Appointment Offered by Council". Baton Rouge State–Times (sec. A, p. 1).
26. "Office Of The Mayor-President Sid Edwards". brla.gov.
27. Ernest Gueymard. (October 26, 1981). "Gueymard notebook: Names of Baton Rouge's 'lost' mayors are discovered". Baton Rouge State–Times (sec. B, p. 3).
28. (April 4, 1854). "The Gazette, of this morning, gives the following as the result of the Municipal Election which came off yesterday". Baton Rouge Daily Advocate (p. 2).
29. (November 10, 1865). "The Election". New Orleans Daily Picayune (p. 9).
30. (April 24, 1869). "O. P. Skofield, Esq., has been elected Mayor of Baton Rouge". Galveston Daily News (p. 3).
31. (April 11, 1871). "Baton Rouge Republican". [[New Orleans Republican]].
32. (April 20, 1872). "At a municipal election, for Mayor, held in Baton Rouge, on the 8th inst.". Opelousas (La.) Journal (p. 2).
33. Charles East. (November 15, 1956). "Some of Mayors Were Colorful Figures". Baton Rouge State–Times (sec. C, p. 6).
34. (March 18, 1894). "City Democratic Ticket". Baton Rouge Daily Advocate (p. 2).
35. (December 24, 1902). "Latest News In Louisiana: Mayor Pruyn Resigns-Big Real Estate Deal-Railway From Donaldsonville to Napoleonville". New Orleans Daily Picayune (p. 12).
36. (February 14, 1903). "The City Council". Baton Rouge Weekly Advocate (p. 1).
37. (May 4, 1914). "Distinguished Citizen Passed Away Sunday: Ben R. Mayer Died Suddenly at 7:30 O'clock After Attack of Indigestion—Long Prominent Baton Rougean—Funeral Takes Place This Afternoon, 6 O'clock, from Family Residence". Baton Rouge State–Times (p. 1).
38. (May 13, 1913). "City Mourns Death of Jules Roux And Pays Last Tribute Of Respect To His Memory: Business in General Suspended This Afternoon During the Hour of the Funeral—The Schools Close at Noon for Children to Attend in Body—State And Parish Officials Will Attend Funeral In Body—Special Train from New Orleans Brings Up Mayor Behrman and Large Party of New Orleans Friends—Many and Beautiful Floral Tributes Were Received—Telegrams Received from Over the State". Baton Rouge New Advocate (p. 1).
39. (June 7, 1913). "Boll Weevil Need Create No Alarm: Grouchy Now Mayor". New Orleans Daily Advocate (p. 7).
40. (May 19, 1944). "Say Higginbotham To Be Mayor Here: Governor Noncommittal; LeBlanc Leaves Today". Baton Rouge Morning Advocate (sec. A, p. 1).
41. (April 29, 1956). "McConnell Is Serving as Acting Mayor: Council to Appoint Mayor-President Under Charter Terms". Baton Rouge Morning Advocate (sec. A, p. 1).
42. Jack Wardlaw. (January 4, 1995). "B.R. Mayor Announces Move To Republican Party". New Orleans Times–Picayune (sec. B, p. 8).
43. (April 20, 1872). "Local Brevities". Baton Rouge Weekly Advocate (p. 3).