Newcomers likely to run close race in District 10

• By STEVEN WARD
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Oct 21, 2008 - Page: 1B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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If the primary was any indication, the Nov. 4 runoff in the Metro Council District 10 race could be a close one.

Larry Selders led five candidates in the Oct. 4 primary, but his nearest competitor, Tara Wicker, was just 55 votes behind. Selders had 34 percent compared to Wicker’s 33 percent, meaning a runoff.

Of their three competitors — Val Lowery, Angela Bird and Michael Samuel — Lowery was closest with just 15 percent of the vote.

Both Selders and Wicker are newcomers to elections. The Nov. 4 winner will replace Lorri Burgess, who could not run again because of term limits.

Selders and Wicker, both Democrats, have been collecting endorsements.

Wicker, 38, has been endorsed by all three of the District 10 candidates defeated Oct 4 — Lowery, Bird and Samuel.

Wicker has also been endorsed by the Baton Rouge Association of Firefighters and Young Democrats of Louisiana.

Selders, 26, has endorsements from the Democratic Party Executive Committee in Baton Rouge, the East Baton Rouge Parish Ministers Conference, and the Baton Rouge Union of Police.

FuturePAC, the political action committee of the Baton Rouge Area Chamber, endorsed both Selders and Wicker.

District 10, which includes downtown Baton Rouge and the Garden District, stretches down from Airline Highway to LSU and is bounded on the west by the Mississippi River and on the east by Acadian Thruway and Plank Road.

If elected, Selders said one of his main goals is to bring all the communities within District 10 together. A common voice makes it easier to solve issues ranging from public safety to sewer and drainage, he said.

“Everybody needs to be on the same page and right now they are not. It’s easier to deal with one issue if you have one big group all working together,” Selders said.

Selders also said he wants to have all the different civic organizations in District 10 meet at one time to go over issues so they all can collaborate on solutions.