BATON ROUGE — East Baton Rouge Parish voters on Tuesday elected their first parishwide judge in more than three decades after state lawmakers restructured the local court system.

Complete but unofficial returns showed Democrat Winston DeCuir Jr. defeating Republican Justin DeLaune by a margin of nearly 2-1 for the Division B spot in the 19th Judicial District Court.

State lawmakers created the parishwide post while revamping judicial districts in 2025. Saying they wanted to address the parish’s racial breakdown, lawmakers converted the parish from three judicial subdistricts to two subdistricts.

The Division B seat will handle a civil court docket. Both candidates have experience in civil law.

In Election Section 1, Division L, Jermaine Guillory defeated Elzie Alford with 53 percent of the vote. Guillory will replace Judge Ronald Johnson, who was forced to retire because he is above age 70.

Guillory has served as a commissioner in the judicial district court. He and Alford are Democrats.

And Democrat Vernon Thomas won a three-way race to replace Judge Tiffany Foxworth-Roberts, who this year was removed from office by the state Supreme Court.

Thomas picked up 52 percent of the vote, while ReAzalia Allen had 27 percent and AJ Sabine had 21 percent. Allen and Sabine are also Democrats.

Judge Bonnie Jackson has been handling the Division M docket since Foxworth-Roberts was removed for lying about an insurance claim and about her military record.