Voters in Livingston Parish delivered results Saturday that largely tracked Louisiana’s broader Republican tilt in the May 16 election, but local returns also revealed notable differences from wider district and statewide voting patterns, particularly in judicial and utility regulator races as well as constitutional amendments.
The parish, one of Louisiana’s strongest Republican bastions, closely mirrored the statewide Republican primary for U.S. Senate, where Julia Letlow emerged as the leading vote-getter. Letlow captured 45% of the vote statewide and an identical 45% in Livingston Parish. John Fleming drew stronger support locally, receiving 32% in Livingston compared with 28% statewide. Meanwhile, incumbent Bill Cassidy underperformed in Livingston Parish with 20%, compared with 25% statewide.
The Democratic Senate contest showed a similar pattern. Jamie Davis led both statewide and in Livingston Parish but ran slightly weaker locally. Davis won 47% statewide compared with 44% in Livingston. Nicholas Albares and Gary Crockett each received 26% statewide but improved modestly in Livingston, where both drew 28%.
Down-ballot contests, however, revealed some of the sharpest contrasts.
In the Republican primary for Louisiana Supreme Court associate justice in the 1st District, districtwide voters favored William “Billy” Burris with 58% of the vote to Blair Downing Edwards’ 42%. Livingston Parish voters moved in the opposite direction. Edwards carried Livingston Parish with 53%, defeating Burris, who received 47%.
The results suggested Livingston Parish stood apart from the broader six-parish district electorate, becoming one of the stronger areas of support for Edwards despite Burris’ comfortable districtwide victory.
Differences also emerged in the Republican primary for Public Service Commission District 1.
Across the 10-parish district, John Young led voting with 31%, followed by Stephanie Hilferty at 28% and Mark Wright at 24%. But Livingston Parish voters reordered the field significantly.
Locally, Wright finished first with 27%, ahead of Hilferty at 21% and Young at 19%. Wallace “Wayne” Cooper II and “Big John” Mason each received 17% in Livingston Parish, both outperforming their districtwide showings of 10% and 7%, respectively.
Young’s results illustrated one of the election’s more striking geographic differences. While he led the district overall, he ran 12 percentage points weaker in Livingston Parish. Wright, by contrast, improved three percentage points locally and moved from third place districtwide into first place in Livingston returns.
Constitutional amendments produced another clear point of comparison between Livingston Parish and the state as a whole.
Voters statewide rejected all five amendments on the ballot, but Livingston Parish diverged on two proposals.
Amendment 2, granting authority for the St. George community school system to operate a school system, failed statewide by a 64%-36% margin. Livingston Parish voters took the opposite position, approving the proposal 60% to 40%.
Amendment 3, designed to fund teacher pay raises through retirement debt restructuring, lost statewide 58% to 42%. Livingston voters narrowly backed the measure, splitting almost evenly at 50% to 50%, with supporters holding a small numerical edge.
On other amendments, Livingston closely tracked statewide sentiment. Amendment 1 failed by 78% statewide and 74% locally. Amendment 4 was rejected 66% statewide and 62% in Livingston. Amendment 5, which sought to raise the mandatory retirement age for judges from 70 to 75, produced identical results: both Louisiana voters and Livingston Parish voters rejected it by a 77%-23% margin.
Voters also strongly approved renewal of a 10-mill property tax for Fire Protection District No. 1, passing the measure with 74% support. The proposal, which won 889 votes to 306 against, stood in contrast to the skepticism voters showed toward several statewide constitutional proposals. Unlike the broader amendment package, which centered on government structure and policy changes, the fire protection renewal dealt with a visible local service directly tied to emergency response and public safety. The outcome suggested Livingston voters remained willing to support tax renewals when they were tied to specific, familiar local services with immediate community impact.
Taken together, the results suggested Livingston Parish remained firmly aligned with Louisiana’s broader Republican electorate at the top of the ballot while demonstrating a distinct local identity in judicial contests, regulatory races and selected policy questions.
