By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
SLIDELL – While high-profile elections like sheriff or parish president understandably get the big headlines when it comes to local elections, that won’t completely be the case for this year’s big card for 2023.
All the Senate and House of Representatives positions are up for election this Oct. 14 and there is presently a lot of interesting races lining up, due in part to several players ready to jump to different public positions.
Additionally, important parish jobs such as assessor, coroner and clerk of court are also going to be on the ballot this fall, along with all the members of the St. Tammany Parish Council.
While the Louisiana Legislature lineup representing St. Tammany Parish is setting up to provide plenty of fireworks for the campaigns which are already kicking off, one parish position has drawn early and intriguing attention with incumbent Clerk of Court Melissa Henry facing an unexpected challenge.
Jessica Jenkins Brewster, a current assistant district attorney for Warren Montgomery’s staff, announced her intention to take on Henry for the clerk job. She did so with a highly critical attack on the job Henry has been doing since first being elected in 2016.
Henry was elected to replace the former clerk who had been in office for 20 years. She promised to bring the office into the 21st century and seemed to do so on many fronts, particularly the new e-file procedures available to lawyers and residents for much of what they previously did at the clerk’s office with paperwork filings. She also began the monumental challenge of having millions of paper filings going back decades to be scanned into the clerk’s computer files, making them accessible to the public online.
However, Brewster stated in her announcement release that as an assistant D.A. who deals directly with the clerk’s office for numerous actions, she believes there is much improvement to be made, claiming she is the right person to get it done.
Incumbent Coroner Dr. Charles Preston and incumbent Assessor Louis Fitzmorris have so far slipped under the radar for any election challenges that have gone public and are both planning to seek re-election, they said.
The St. Tammany delegation for the Louisiana Legislature could see major changes after the fall elections. Many of the current representatives and senators are term limited out, meaning there are several vacant seats to be filled.
Additionally, Rep. Bob Owen, who currently is finishing only his first term as the District 76 rep, has announced he is running for the Senate District 1 seat that had been filled by Sharon Hewitt, who is running for Louisiana governor.
Ray Garofalo, a term limited lawmaker currently serving as La. Rep. from District 103, is the only other person who has publicly stated he will take on Owen for the District 1 Senate seat.
Mary DuBuisson, District 90 representative, said she will seek her second term, but is expecting a challenge from at least two other individuals who have not gone public yet, while Slidell attorney Brian Glorioso has announced he plans to seek the open seat left by Owen in District 76.