State Rep. Neil Abramson
The only Uptown New Orleans-based lawmaker to draw a challenger in Saturday’s election easily defeated his opponent by a 3-1 margin on Thursday evening, but races for the state school board and civil district court are headed to runoffs next month, according to complete but unofficial results.
State Rep. Neil Abramson, a first-term incumbent Democrat, received 5,793 votes (73.6 percent) to return to his newly-redrawn District 98 seat, which now includes the Carrollton, Audubon, university, Broadmoor and other Uptown neighborhoods between the Jefferson Parish line to Napoleon Avenue. Fenn French, a Republican businessman endorsed by Gov. Bobby Jindal and former advisor to U.S. Rep. Joseph Cao, received 2,078 votes (26.4 percent), according to the Louisiana Secretary of State’s office.
“I will continue throughout my next term to visit with residents, property owners and businesses – and to listen,” Abramson wrote after the election in a statement on his website. “As a community we have common concerns: the need for lower insurance premiums, eliminating crime, protecting our families, improving public education, and creating jobs and opportunities for ourselves and our children. We have worked together on these issues, and we will continue to do so.”
The other contested local races on Saturday’s ballot were for the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and for several Orleans Parish judgeships. Two of those races will be decided in the general election Nov. 19:
- BESE District 2 will head to a runoff after challenger Kira Orange-Jones took 39 percent of the vote over incumbent Louella P. Givens, who received 31 percent. Both are Democrats.
- Civil District Court Division E will also be decided in a runoff between Nakisha Ervin-Knott and Clare Jupiter. In a close three-way race, Ervin-Knott took nearly 36 percent, Jupiter took nearly 34 percent, and third-place finisher Kris Kiefer received just over 30 percent of the ballots Saturday.
Four others were decided Saturday:
- Jim Garvey, an incumbent Republican, won re-election to his BESE District 1 seat with 58 percent of the vote.
- Regina Bartholomew easily won Civil District Court Division B with 63 percent of the vote over Ellen Hazeur.
- For Criminal District Court, Franz Zibilich won with 65 percent of the vote over Glen Woods (22 percent) and Donald Sauviac Jr. (13 percent).
- For traffic court, Herbert Cade was elected with 54 percent of the vote, besting Patrick Giraud (24 percent) and Ernest Charbonnet (22 percent).
