Greg Route was elected Mayor of Franklinton on Tuesday, defeating John Daniel 779 to 727.
Route is a former Franklinton alderman and has also served as a parish councilman. Daniel is a longtime Franklinton alderman.
Route ran on a platform of “re-routing” Franklinton, and he said he hopes to make some changes in the town.
Four of the five current Franklinton aldermen will apparently be returning to office in a very close race. Re-elected were Patrice Crain, T.J. Butler Jr., Darwin Sharp, and Heath Spears. They will be joined by newcomer Seth Descant, who will replace John Daniel on the board.
The sixth place finisher, Frankie Crosby Sr. was only six votes behind Spears, and Jeamie McCullen, the seventh place finisher, was only seven votes behind Crosby. Esco Burton finished in 8th place, Richard Dillon was in 9th place, and Blake Orman was in 10th place.
Four years ago a very tight race for the 5th alderman position resulted in a runoff. If the closeness of the 2020 election results in a runoff this will be updated if it is announced.
-------- Franklinton Town Attorney Ellen Creel is about to become a judge. The Clifton resident won overwhelmingly in her home parish of Washington and also took St. Tammany Parish enroute to winning the race for judge in Division J of the 22nd Judicial District.
Creel took 82% of the vote in Washington Parish as she built an insurmountable lead over her opponent, Richard Ducote of Covington, 13,728 to 3,582. In St. Tammany Parish, she had 73,535 to Ducote’s 48,562. District-wide she won 87,263 to 52,144.
Creel will replace Judge William J. “Rusty” Knight of Franklinton, who is retiring.
-------- District Attorney Warren Montgomery romped to a second term Tuesday, easily defeating his challenger, Covington attorney Vincent Wynne.
Montgomery serves both Washington Parish and St. Tammany Parish, which make up the 22nd Judicial District. He carried both parishes commandingly enroute to a district-wide rout of Wynne.
Montgomery was first elected in 2014, succeeding longtime District Attorney Walter Reed, who decided not to run again after he was implicated in campaign finance violations. Reed was later tried and convicted and sentenced to prison.
Montgomery defeated Wynne despite losing the endorsements of the sheriffs in both Washington and St. Tammany Parishes. He shrugged off the lack of endorsements from the two sheriffs, and pointed out that he had been endorsed by both the Republican Executive Committee of Washington Parish and its counterpart, the Democratic Executive Committee of Washington Parish.
Montgomery defeated Wynne 10,443 to 7,149 in Washington Parish, and 81,468 to 45,503 in St. Tammany Parish for a district-wide total of 91,911 to 52,652. -------- •
See this week’s edition of The Era-Leader for complete Washington Parish election results.
