Biography
Holden was elected mayor-president on November 3, 2004, when he unseated the Republican incumbent, Bobby Simpson of Baker. Holden was inaugurated on January 3, 2005.
The 2004 race was Holden's third attempt to win the mayor-presidency. In 1996, he had failed in a bid to unseat Democrat-turned-Republican Mayor-President Tom Ed McHugh of Zachary, later the executive director of the Louisiana Municipal Association.
Holden's election is significant in that he is the first African-American Mayor-President of East Baton Rouge Parish. His election was fostered through the support of his urban black base but also with substantial support from suburban white, many being Republicans. Support from the latter group was buoyed by the support of Jim Bernhard, CEO of The Shaw Group, and other figures in business and industry, but largely a result of dissatisfaction with Mayor-President Simpson. This was demonstrated in dramatic fashion by the fact that President Bush received 54 percent of the parish vote in his re-election campaign, and Congressman Baker received 69 percent. Holden in the same election matched Bush's 54 percent parishwide total.
On taking office, Holden retained Walter Monsour, a Republican lawyer originally from Shreveport, as the chief administrative officer, even though Monsour had supported Simpson's reelection. Monsour told Holden that he would take the position if Holden agreed to treat all areas of the parish equally whether or not those precincts voted for Holden. Monsour had held the same post twenty years earlier in 1985 under then Democratic Mayor-President Pat Screen and was credited with resolving fiscal problems that developed in Screen's second term. Early in 2009, Monsour stepped down as CAO and was replaced by his assistant, former Republican State Representative Mike Futrell, a Baton Rouge native.
Holden is a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition, an organization formed in 2006 and co-chaired by Mayors Michael Bloomberg of New York City and Thomas Menino of Boston, Massachusetts.
In 2008, Holden was inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield.
Read more about this topic: Kip Holden
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