With less than 48 hours until voters go to the polls in the Baton Rouge mayoral runoff election, the two candidates, Sharon Weston Broome and Mack “Bodi” White, face off one final time tonight in a live debate on WAFB-TV.
The race is expected to be close. During the primary, Broome, an African-American Democrat from north Baton Rouge, led White, a white Republican from Central, 32% to 29%. But East Baton Rouge Parish has voted for the Democratic candidate in the last three presidential elections, and early voters for the Dec. 10 runoff have skewed more heavily toward African-Americans than they did in the primary.
“That would give Sharon an edge,” says political consultant Roy Fletcher. “If turnout Saturday is anything like the early vote has been, Bodi needs 80% of the white vote to win—and that’s a tall order.”
Tonight’s debate isn’t expected to change the dynamics of the race, according to Fletcher, who describes both candidates as “pretty well scripted by this point.”
However, he believes a small segment of white voters—namely those who voted for moderate, no-party candidate Darryl Gissel in the primary—are undecided and still looking for a reason to get behind one candidate or the other.
As the runoff approaches, what had been a relatively civil campaign has become increasingly acrimonious.
On Nov. 28, Broome and White took the gloves off in a televised debate on WBRZ-TV. White accused Broome of being an ineffective leader who allowed north Baton Rouge to fall into economic decline during the years she represented it in the Legislature.
Broome countered, painting White as a divider who, while in the Legislature, supported splitting the parish through the failed St. George breakaway effort.
Tonight’s debate will include questions from a panel of journalists as well as a round of candidate-to-candidate questions. It will air live from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. on WAFB.
—Stephanie Riegel
