INDReporter

North Lafayette precincts drive Shelvin's reelection win

by Heather Miller

It's no surprise, but still telling that District 3 City-Parish Councilman Brandon Shelvin scored his largest election victories Saturday in his district's most marginalized precincts.

As predicted, poll numbers backing incumbent District 3 City-Parish Councilman Brandon Shelvin's election victory Saturday point to north Lafayette's poorest precincts.

Shelvin, who ran for office in 2007 despite not having met the residency requirements to run for the seat, took 59.8 percent of the 3,388 votes cast in his district, a 15-precinct area that includes downtown, the Saint streets, several north Lafayette precincts and one polling place in Carencro.

Shelvin prevailed in 10 out of 15 precincts, with his most significant wins coming from voters who poll at Alice Boucher Elementary (80 percent in favor of Shelvin), the Sheriff's Office Training Center on St. Antoine Street (77 percent for Shelvin) and N.P. Moss Annex on Mudd Avenue (68 percent).

Support for challenger Lloyd Rochon, who captured 40.2 percent of the vote, was confined to five precincts with predictably more white voters. His biggest victories came from Johnston Street Fire Station No. 5 (74 percent), Central Fire Station on Vermilion Street (66 percent) and the Lafayette Consolidated Government building on University Avenue (62 percent).

Shelvin refuses to comment to The Independent because of the paper's repeated unfavorable coverage of the councilman, much of which details Shelvin's myriad legal, ethical and financial troubles that came to light after he took office. Read the list here.

But as he's told those who wonder whether his issues will affect his perception among voters in the district: "My people don't read the paper."

"Quite simply, the people have spoken and the people have decided that they would like me to lead them again for another four years," Shelvin told The Daily Advertiser Saturday.

Check out Wednesday's Independent for more analysis on Shelvin's victory and how it's linked to the most heated north Lafayette runoffs to come.