New Orleans has a new state representative.
Alonzo Knox defeated Sybil Richardson in a special election for the House District 93 in what was a low-turnout affair. According to the complete unofficial result posted by the Secretary of State’s Office, only 3,161 people—or 9.1 percent of eligible voters—cast ballots in the race. Knox beat Richardson by 275 votes, receiving 1,718 votes (54 percent) to Richardson’s 1,443 votes (46 percent).
Knox will succeed Royce Duplessis in the District 93 seat. Duplessis vacated the seat in December after he won a special election to fill the Senate District 5 seat vacated by Karen Carter Peterson last year.
In other New Orleans races on Saturday’s ballot:
Marissa Hutabarat won the three-person race for Civil District Court, Division B outright by claiming 56 percent of the vote. Hutabarat’s vote total of 14,357 was more than double of runner-up Stephanie Bridges’s tally (7,033; 28 percent). David “Jeff” Dye finished in a distant third place with 4,140 votes (16 percent). Voter turnout in this race was 9.7 percent.
The race for Criminal District Court, Section A is headed to an April runoff. Simone Levine and Leon Roché each pulled in 34 percent of the vote to force a general election. Only 173 votes separated the two, with Levine having the advantage in the first round of voting (8,941 to 8,768). Diedre Pierce Kelly finished in third place with 32 percent of the vote (8,383). Voter turnout in this race was 9.9 percent.
