Voters reelect Belue coroner

Lincoln Parish voters have reelected Dr. Mike Belue their coroner.

Complete but unofficial returns from Saturday’s election show Belue won 57% of the vote, or 4,283 votes, to challenger Dr. Holly Kidd’s 42%, or 3,287 votes.

The race was the only local parishwide race on the ballot, and the first coroner’s race in 28 years. Belue, an Independent, has been coroner for 15 years.

Kidd, an internist at Ruston’s Green Clinic, had a slim 51% lead in early voting. But Belue took the lead with about one-third of the 50 precincts reporting, and never lost it.

In regional races on the ballot, parish voters joined the rest of the 5th District in apparently electing Rapides Parish Republican Lance Harris to the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, but split with voters in state Senate District 33 over reelecting Stewart Cathey.

Harris won 61% of the local vote in the BESE race against challenger Toby Brazzel’s 39%. Brazzel is a Republican from Alexandria. Harris currently serves in the Legislature, but was term limited from seeking reelection to his District 25 House seat.

As of late Saturday night, Harris had a 67% lead districtwide. The 19-parish district stretches from Evangeline Parish to Northeast Louisiana.

Meantime, Lincoln Parish voters rejected Cathey and went for challenger Ned White. White polled 55% of the vote in the Lincoln Parish portion of District 33, while Cathey won 45%.

Districtwide, Cathey beat White 53% to 47%. Both men are Republicans.