Almost a year after the suburb was incorporated into a city, voters in St. George elected their first leaders on Saturday. Residents also voted against adopting a home rule charter, which would have established the city’s governing structure.
With 65% of the vote, Interim Mayor Dustin Yates, who was appointed by Gov. Jeff Landry last year, defeated Jim Morgan in the mayoral race.
Since none of the candidates secured 50% of the vote, the District 4 race will go into a runoff between Republican Patricia "Patty" Cook and Independent David Madaffari, who edged out Justin Turner by just three votes to make the runoff election. Cook had 45% of the vote.
Voters chose Republicans David Dellucci for one of two at-large city council seats. He received 28% of the vote. Jim Talbot, a Republican, secured 23% of the vote, and Shaun Wyche, a Democrat, had 20%. They will head into a runoff or the other seat.
Residents voted down the home rule charter, which would have established a council-manager form of government, dividing powers between a city council, a city manager, and a mayor. The city manager would’ve been responsible for most day-to-day operations.
Since it didn’t pass, the St. George will continue to operate under Louisiana's default Lawrason Act government, the Advocate reported.
Note: We previously reported that Jim Talbot won an at-large city council seat, but he did not secure enough votes to win outright and will now face Shaun Wyche in a runoff. This story has been corrected.
