A fourth candidate is expected to enter the Baton Rouge mayor’s race later this week, when businessman Jordan Piazza holds his official campaign announcement.
The campaign kickoff is scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday at Piazza’s home, according to a copy of an evite to the “Piazza for Progress!” event.
Piazza declines to discuss his pending candidacy, as does his campaign consultant, Roy Fletcher, until after Wednesday’s announcement.
But in January, Piazza told Daily Report he was planning to enter the race because he feels a “true calling” to serve the community.
“As I’ve watched the challenges that our great city continues to face, I believe it’s time for the next generation of leaders to get involved implementing real change,” he said at the time.
Piazza, 31, will join Metro Council members Matt Watson and Tara Wicker in challenging incumbent Mayor Sharon Weston Broome. State Rep. C. Denise Marcelle is also “seriously considering” a run, she says.
“Every single day on my Facebook page many of my constituents ask me to run,” Marcelle says.
Like Broome, Wicker and Marcelle are Black Democrats. Watson and Piazza are white Republicans.
Though the growing field of candidates increases the likelihood that Broome could be forced into a runoff with Watson or Piazza, political pollster Bernie Pinsonat says given the mayor’s strong financial position and incumbency, it is unlikely she will ultimately be unseated.
“It’s not impossible but it is next to impossible,” says Pinsonat, who notes Broome would need to capture only about 11% of the white vote in a runoff in order to win.
“She could easily pick up that just from neighborhoods around LSU,” where there tend to be more moderate and progressive white voters, he says.
Marcelle says she is not concerned about splitting the vote and is confident she would be in a good position to win should she decide to enter the race.
“I can raise money and I don’t have to raise as much as some of the others,” she says. “I already have name recognition, I have a street game and I have a base.”
