Shelton Named Central Republican Chairman

Named Republican Leader For City of Central

CENTRAL — Local realtor Jr. Shelton was elected to represent Central on the East Baton Rouge Republican Parish Executive Committee last Saturday, defeating incumbent committeeman Billy Thompson.  The results were:

Jr. Shelton 1,331 60.2%

Billy Thompson 881 39.8%

Shelton was elected from Metro Council District 4 and earned the highest vote total of any candidate in the parish running from a Metro Council district.  Shelton was in turn appointed as Republican chairman for the City of Central by the East Baton Rouge Republican Parish Executive Committee, or PEC.  The PEC is composed of 17 members.  They are elected every four years by the registered Republicans in the parish at the time of the Presidential Primary.  The PEC has five members elected at-large parishwide and 12 members elected from the Metro Council districts.

In addition to Shelton, Zachary City Councilman John Coghlan was elected without opposition to the Parish Executive Committee from Metro Council District 1, which includes Zachary and the north part of the City of Central.

Coghlan was appointed City of Zachary Republican chairman.

In Metro Council District 2, Ryan Cross, the son of former Sen. Mike Cross, was elected to the PEC, and he was appointed City of Baker Republican chairman.

In the at-large race for the East Baton Rouge Republican Parish Executive Committee, seven candidates competed for five seats on the PEC.  Each voter could vote for up to five candidates.

Central City News editor Woody Jenkins ran first in the parishwide voting.  He received 93.0 percent of the votes cast.  The seven at-large candidates were:

(Vote for Up to 5)

Woody Jenkins 10,757 93%

Dan Kyle 10,033 87%

Elizabeth Dent 19,894 86%

Tommy French 18,418 73%

Darrell White 18,379 72%

Ken McMillan 6,201 54%

Willie Lewis 4,109 38%

All but McMillan and Lewis were elected.

At the first meeting of the newly-elected PEC on March 27, Jenkins was elected East Baton Rouge Parish Republican chairman for the 2012-2016 term.

In Republican State Central Committee races in Central, Brennan Easley defeated Billy Thompson, and Barry Ivey defeated Jared Smith:

Louisiana Republican State Central Committee

House District 65B

Brennan Easley 534 61%

Billy Thompson 339 38%

House District 65C

Barry D. Ivey 553 56%

Jared Smith 421 43%

As City of Central Republican chairman, Jr. Shelton will be responsible for organizing the City of Central Republican Municipal Executive Committee and coordinating Republican activities in the City of Central.