Washington Parish voters spoke at the polls Saturday and in early voting. In the results of that voting, runoffs were created for the two major parish offices on the ballot.
Challenger Jason Smith and incumbent Sheriff Randy Seal are headed to the November 18 runoff.
Smith led the four candidates for sheriff with 42% of the vote, followed by Seal with 34%. Eliminated were Scott Crain (12%) and Kenneth Martin (12%).
In a relatively low turnout election, Smith collected 5,177 votes to Seal's 4,188.
In the race for Parish President to succeed the retiring Richard Thomas, candidates Ryan Seal and Malinda White are headed to the runoff.
Seal led all candidates with 39% of the vote, followed by White with 27% of the vote.
Seal had 4,711 votes and White trailed with 3,220 votes.
Third place went to Sarah Cook, who had 22% and David Anthony took fourth place with 13%.
In the race to succeed Malinda White as 75th District State Representative, John Wyble and Kelvin May will be in the November 18 runoff.
Wyble had 48% of the vote and May had 26%.
Wyble's vote total was 5,801, May's was 3,211. and third place finisher Perry Talley had 3,193.
In a reminder that every vote counts in an election, Talley missed the runoff by just 19 votes.
Beth Mizell was reelected to her District 12 State Senate seat in a landslide, taking Washington Parish and parts of Tangipahoa and St. Tammany parishes easily against two opponents.
For two vacant 22nd Judicial District Court judge's positions, Tara Zeller and Alan Black led in Washington Parish and also won the district overall.
In three Washington Parish Council races on the ballot, Parish Council chairman Shawn Rice was easily reelected in District 2; Councilman Clark Harry was narrowly reelected in District 4, and Councilman Reginald McMasters faces a November 18 runoff in District 6.
McMasters had 34% of the vote and challenger Dwayne Magee had 37%. Third place finisher Candace Bickham had 29% of the vote.
Attorney General Jeff Landry won the race for Governor outright. He will be sworn in this coming January to succeed Gov. John Bel Edwards, who was term limited. Landry returns the governor's office to the Republican Party after eight years of the Democrat Edwards.
Statewide, Landry won with 547,828 votes (52%) and runner-up Shawn Wilson, a Democrat, had 275,527 votes (26%).
In Washington Parish, Landry had 55% of the vote and Wilson had 20%. State Treasurer John Schroder of Covington had 10% of the vote in Washington Parish for Governor. All other candidates for Governor were in the low single digits in Washington Parish.
Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser easily won re-election with 66% of the vote statewide and 74% of the vote in Washington Parish.
All four constitutional amendments on the ballot were approved by the voters, both statewide and in Washington Parish.
