In a stunning upset, Davante Lewis defeated three-term incumbent Lambert Boissiere III to become the Public Service Commissioner for Louisiana’s 3rd district. He is the first openly LGBTQ Black person to be elected to public office in state history.
Capitol Access reporter Paul Braun spoke with WRKF host Karen Henderson about the result.
Karen Henderson: Paul, let’s discuss this result in the PSC race. What are the big takeaways?
Paul Braun: Well, right off the top, Lewis’ win is historic. He’s the first openly LGBTQ person elected to state office in Louisiana, according to the LGBTQ Victory Fund. That’s a big deal in a state that ranks near the bottom in terms of LGBTQ representation in state and local government. But while Lewis never shied away from his sexual orientation in this race, his campaign was largely focused on other issues, like green energy, utility affordability, and hardening the state’s energy infrastructure against the ever-strengthening hurricanes that plague the state.
And this victory was a major blow to a well-established incumbent in Lambert Boissiere III and the industry groups that supported him.
The Associated Press called this race while votes were still being tallied Saturday night. Now that the dust has settled we’ve seen that Lewis’ victory may have been surprising, but it wasn’t particularly close.
Lewis secured 59% of the vote to Boissiere’s 41%. That vote share is pretty consistent with what we saw from Boissiere in last month’s primary. Back then, he secured 43% of the vote and Lewis had just 18%, but Boissiere’s four Democratic challengers brought in a combined 57% percent of the vote. But Boissiere’s relatively low vote share for an incumbent set off alarm bells in his campaign.
We saw him push in the final days of the campaign, locking down big a big endorsement from Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards. We saw more advertising from both candidates in this race than we’ve seen in a PSC race in years. But in the end, Boissiere’s share of the vote dropped in the runoff.
KH: What’s next for Lewis and the PSC?
PB: Frustrations over rising energy bills a utilities’ slow and costly recovery efforts after recent storms have definitely raised the profile of the Public Service Commission over the last year or so, but traditionally, this panel has flown under the radar. From politicos’ perspective, the commission has mostly been a stepping stone for people seeking higher office later on — it’s where Former Governors Huey Long and Kathleen Blanco got their start in politics.
Lewis is young — he’s just 30 years old — and the boundaries of the 3rd PSC district that just elected him closely resemble those of the state’s 2nd congressional district, which is the heart of the state’s Black Democratic political base. It would be interesting to see where he might go from here.
Now, it’s incredibly early to get into any of those discussions. Lewis is focused on the task at hand, and he definitely has his hands full. At the end of the day, he is one of just two Democrats on the seven-member commission and it remains unclear if he will be able to garner enough support for his Ratepayer’s Bill of Rights or if he will be able to accelerate the state’s transition to renewable energy as he promised throughout his campaign.
People made a lot out of the support Lewis had from national environmental groups in this race. Keep the Lights On, a super PAC funded primarily by the Environmental Defense Fund pumped more than $1 million into this race. But Lewis also secured a raft of endorsements from grassroots, homegrown Louisiana political groups — organizations that are going to stay engaged on issues like the climate change policies of utility companies and billing changes that affect low- and middle-income Louisianans the most. Lewis is a product of those organizations, he’s currently working for the Louisiana Budget Project, and it will be really interesting to see how he works with those groups moving forward.
KH: The PSC race wasn’t the only race that was settled Saturday night. Voters also approved a trio of new state constitutional amendments. Tell us a bit about those.
PB: Yeah, that’s right. Voters overwhelmingly approved all three of those ballot measures Saturday. Each passed with more than 70% of the vote, and so now the state Senate will have more oversight when it comes to gubernatorial appointments on the State Police Commission and the State Civil Service Commission thanks to Amendments 2 and 3.
But the amendment that’s making the biggest splash is the one that would arguably have the least effect on state law. Amendment 1, which added language to the state constitution that explicitly says only U.S. citizens can register to vote and participate in state and local elections in Louisiana, passed with 73% of the vote. But federal law already prohibits non-citizens from participating in federal elections, and the state election code already lists U.S. citizenship as the first requirement for people registering to vote in Louisiana. So the amendment has no practical effect, but it does enshrine that requirement in the state’s constitution.
We’ve already seen Sec. of State Kyle Ardoin make a big push for this particular amendment and claim victory now that it has passed. Ardoin is up for reelection next year and this is the kind of red meat that plays well on the campaign trail, so its likely to come up during his reelection bid next year.
