Central Wasn’t Always Such a GOP Hot Bed

CENTRAL — If you watched the election results last Saturday, you would certainly conclude that Central is a Republican stronghold, and it is.

But it hasn’t always been that way.

Today, 20 of the 22 elected officials from Central are registered Republicans, but the Republicans hardly fielded candidates in Central as late as the 1980’s.

Central native Diana Weber remembers the first GOP campaign in Central — nearly 60 years ago — because she was part of it.

“I was 10 years old in 1952, and my mother and I walked up and down Foster Road, campaigning for General Eisenhower for President,” she said.

It was indeed an unusual sight.

Mrs. Clara Carmena of Comite Drive said, “In those days, we never even heard of a Republican, much less met one!” she laughed.

But Diana said she and her mother, Emma Young Weber, got a good response from voters.  “People loved General Eisenhower.  It wasn’t really about Republican vs. Democrat, but people wanted someone who would keep our country safe,” she said.

“My mother’s brother, Major Raynor (Judge) Young, was killed in the Philippines during World War II.  Eisenhower was respected as a military commander and a good man.  She trusted him to protect us from the Communists and threats we faced,” Diana said.

Diana Weber’s father, Sidney Weber, was a close friend of Dr. Virgil Jackson, Sr.  Dr. Jackson, who resided in New Orleans and in Central, is well remembered here for having donated Jackson Park to the Central community.  Diana said her father helped Dr. Jackson and Leonard Keowen construct the park.  Dr. Jackson was known nationally and was active in Republican politics.  He was Republican National  Committeeman from Louisiana and reportedly drove General Eisenhower from New Orleans to Baton Rouge during the 1952 campaign.

Records of the East Baton Rouge Parish Registrar of Voters only maintain statistics on party registration as far back as 1960.  But the numbers in that office reveal how few Republicans they were in the parish — much less in Central.

According to JoAnn Jensen of Registrar Elaine Lamb’s office, here is the breakdown of GOP voters in the parish since 1960:

East Baton Rouge Parish

Republican Registered Voters

Year White Black

1960 597 52

1970 3,393 282

1980 17,541 663

1990 43,446 1,601

2000 64.829 2,925

2010 70,574 2,869

Before 1975, Louisiana’s system of party primaries strongly discouraged voters from registering as Republicans, because they could not participate in the “real election,” the Democratic Primary.  With the passage of Louisiana’s Open Primary law in 1975, there were no more party primaries and all voters participated in the same “open,” non-party elections.

By 1980, the Democratic Party had moved far to the left, and most voters in Central supported Gov. Ronald Reagan for President, even though they were not themselves registered as Republicans.  In 1995, popular Central State Rep. Donald Ray Kennard switched to Republican and many voters soon followed suit.

— By Woody Jenkins