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Political analyst gives insight on how Sid Edwards won election
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BATON ROUGE - Mayor-President elect Sid Edwards took an early lead and did not look back, upsetting the incumbent Sharon Weston Broome to become the first republican Mayor-President of East Baton Rouge Parish in 24 years.
WBRZ's political analyst James Hartman says there is not just one silver bullet that cost Broome the election.
"Her record working against, current news events going against her and playing into his message, and he had that high turnout in his base in Central, in St. George, in Zachary and other places that he was very strong she didn't match that in her core," Hartman said.
Hartman explains turnout was low in North Baton Rouge - an area Broome has dominated the two previous mayoral election terms but struggled to perform as strong this time. He said it's uncommon for a race in a city like Baton Rouge to end this way.
"I was surprised by the margin because this was a landslide by American political definition. It is extremely rare to see a mayor of a metropolitan city unseated like that," Hartman said.
During his victory speech, Edwards said it was tough to be in Broome's position when a city is ready for change.
"The hardest seat to be in is the incumbent because you have a record, so everybody can look at you and see what isn't right," Edwards said.
Edwards says now he has his sights on bringing the city-parish together.
"Broome and Ted James supporters, we need you to be a part of the family. We need some of your expertise, and we need to unify that's going to be a big deal," Edwards said.
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