TERREBONNE PARISH, La. — Terrebonne Parish voters will choose a parish president in a runoff election Saturday, November 18. Regardless of the outcome, a new leader will be sworn in, as current Terrebonne Parish President Gordon Dove is now termed out after serving seven years in office.
Seven candidates vied for the position in the Gubernatorial Primary election in October. None were able to get enough votes to win outright. The top two, Jason Bergeron and Darrin Guidry, will compete in Saturday’s runoff.
Bergeron, who got 33 percent of the vote in the first election, is a tech entrepreneur with a history of involvement in community organizations. He owns and manages several businesses. “My biggest strength is leadership, and being able to lead organizations and take organizations to the next level,” he told WWL-TV.
Darrin Guidry, who got 25 percent of the vote, is serving his second term as District 6 representative in the Terrebonne Parish Council. “I have a proven track record,” he told WWL-TV, “People can look at and see how I vote, what I do, and how I govern.”
Whoever wins will inherit Terrebonne Parish’s unique challenges. The most glaring is flood insurance, which has skyrocketed in cost over the past few years and is now required for more of the parish’s residents thanks to a change in federal zoning. Voter Harold Favret noted that the parish has completed many flood mitigation projects that do not seem to be factoring into the federal government’s calculations. “They’re probably going to have to go up to Washington and try to get some leeway,” Favret said of the future Parish President.
Both candidates discussed hurricane preparedness, in the hope of heading off flood claim headaches before they happen. “We're going to make sure a lot of things are pre-positioned prior to storms, so that way we can be ready,” said Guidry. “There are always opportunities for improvement,” said Beregron, “to look at testing the processes and looking at worst case scenarios.”
Crime is also top of mind for voters. Guidry noted crime mitigation plans he has been part of on Parish Council. “We're going to add street lighting in a lot of the neighborhoods that need it, we're also installing security cameras that help us help prevent crime and catch crime,” he said, adding he hopes to create “something online” to make it easier for people to report suspicious activity.
Bergeron also stressed a holistic approach to crime, saying he will “work with the Community Outreach Department, going into different areas, different communities, different districts, to understand what their needs are.”
When asked whether they had any other messages for voters, both candidates stressed the importance of voting Saturday, noting low turnout numbers for the October election. That day, each candidate received fewer than 10,000 votes.
Polls open November 18 at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. Saturday.