BATON ROUGE — Results from the battle over who would be the mayor-president depended a lot on the places Sid Edwards won and Sharon Weston Broome lost.

Edwards, a political newcomer, rolled in Central, Pride and St. George, which each saw voter turnout surge since 2020. Broome still carried much-larger Baton Rouge, but not by the margins she enjoyed in the 2016 and 2020 runoffs.

"She is the reason she lost tonight," political analyst James Hartman said on WBRZ when the results were in.

There is a perception that Baton Rouge has grown less safe under Broome. The homicide rate has climbed since Broome took office in 2017, and there have been countless headlines about Baton Rouge police interacting inappropriately and at times illegally with the public. 

"The biggest complaint I've heard from people here in Baton Rouge, including Democrats who might have been previously Broome voters, is that they're not happy with the crime and they're unhappy with how the police department treats citizens," Hartman said.

Saturday's election drew 10,000 fewer voters than in 2020, and Edwards defeated Broome by 8,721 votes. The number of people voting in Baton Rouge was off considerably — turnout was at 30 percent, down from 37 percent in each of the previous mayoral runoffs.

In Central, voter turnout hit 49 percent with no other local race on the ballot, and among those voters Edwards picked up 84 percent of the vote. Edwards is a former Central High School football coach who now coaches at Istrouma. Voter turnout was 42 percent four years ago.

In Pride, voter turnout climbed from 39 percent to 44 percent, and Edwards won by a 4-1 margin.

And in St. George, whose incorporation Broome opposed, voter turnout climbed from 42 percent to 44 percent since 2020. Edwards won 78-22.

Turnout parishwide was around 36 percent, up slightly from four years ago, according to Secretary of State data.