Harlan Kirgan
Eunice Mayor Scott Fontenot and Police Chief Randy Fontenot won re-election with overwhelming majorities in Tuesday’s election.
Scott Fontenot won 82 percent of the vote in defeating challenger Tim Smith.
With a 42 percent turnout, the incumbent garnered 2,141 votes to Smith’s 481.
The mayor was not available for comment Wednesday morning.
In the police chief race, Randy Fontenot won 78 percent and challenger Allarae “AJ” Frank had 22 percent of the vote. With a 43 percent turnout, Fontenot polled 2,097 votes to Frank’s 592.
The results are from the secretary of state’s website.
There will be runoff in two of the city’s alderman’s races.
In Ward 1, Chad Andrepont and Roland Miller are in runoff. Andrepont had 41 percent of the 691 votes cast followed by Miller with 38 percent and Tony Baltakis with 21 percent. Turnout was 44.8 percent.
In Ward 2, incumbent alderwoman Germaine Simpson won 46 percent of the 659 votes cast, but faces challenger Jackie “JuJu” Vallare,who had 40 percent of the vote, in the runoff. Martin Bellow trailed with 14 percent of the vote. Turnout was 38 percent.
In Ward 3, Ernest Blanchard won the race with 58 percent of the 671 votes cast. Gabriel Ortego trailed with 42 percent of the vote. Turnout was 47.7 percent.
In Ward 4, incumbent Connie Thibodeaux won 64 percent of the 601 votes cast to win election. Challenger James “Donnie” Fontenot won 36 percent of the vote. Turnout was 39 percent.
Marion “Nootsie” Sattler was not challenged for the alderman at-large seat.
Scott Fontenot first ran for election in March 2016. He won that election with 1,379 votes in a field of four candidates. Also running were Tim Longman with 39 votes; Roland Miller with 305 votes; and William Thompson with 275 votes. Turnout was 32.1 percent.
Police Chief Randy Fontenot won his first term in the December 2014 election by defeating Raymond Cole. Fontenot had 1,689 votes to Cole’s 1,165 votes in an election with a 43.8 percent turnout.
In the prelude to the December 2014 election, Fontenot had polled 1,374 votes with a 52.8 percent turnout. Other candidates and their votes were Raymond Cole, 797; Ronald Dies, 681; Joseph Reed, 292; and Bart Thibodeaux, 231.
In the November 2010 election, Fontenot with 1,471 votes lost to Ronald Dies, who had 1,617 votes. Turnout was 47.6 percent.
Fontenot and Dies reached the November runoff from a field of five candidates in the October 2010 election. Candidates and their votes in that election were: Raymond Cole, 572; Ronald Dies, 782; Fontenot, 908; Allarate “A.J.” Frank, 360; and Gerald Watley, 280.