As November comes around, Shreveport residents prepare to elect another mayor after voting Tom Arceneaux into office on december 31st, 2022. What makes this election stand out is that this is the first time since 1990 that voters will have a choice between seven potential candidates in the general election. Tom Arcenuex is back on the ballot with one other republican, four democrats, and one independent. With so many people on the ballot all sharing their ideas, it can be hard to stay informed on the intentions of each candidate. I want to present these ideas to you in an overview so you can best decide who to vote for. This article is not an endorsement of any single candidate, but instead a glance at them, their goals, and beliefs.

 Tom Arecenuex [3] is the incumbent mayor and was elected in 2022, being the first republican mayor Shreveport has had since 1998. On his campaign website, he lists his most important priorities as decreasing crime, forming a pro-business initiative, infrastructure upgrades, and his block-by-block initiatives. The initial phase was a general clean-up where, as the name would suggest, a team of people would go to specific neighborhoods for a scheduled clean-up. These cleanups would also sometimes include removing blighted buildings. As stated by him in a Facebook post, there have been 3.8 million pounds of litter and debris removed from the city, as well as over 800 buildings torn down. His administration hasn’t been all good, though; many people criticize him for how he handled the Amazon data center coming to Shreveport and for signing an NDA. And even though data centers become increasingly unpopular with the average American, in a recent forum hosted by The Shreveport-Bossier City Advocate, he said that data centers are “a good thing for the city of Shreveport and I fully support it.”

Stormy Gage-Watts [4] is a Democratic candidate who served on the Caddo Parish Commission in District Seven, including as president in 2019 and again in 2025. Even though her campaign website does not outline her top priorities like many others do, she did say during the Shreveport-Bossier City Advocate forum that her top priorities with the city are to “clean it, that is to protect it, and that is to invest in it.” She plans on investing in the city by hiring a city planner to “create an identity” for the city, as she said in the interview, but does not say what that would look like. She also wants to build affordable housing on vacant government land; she has already begun working on that promise as commissioner by trying to implement legislation that allows for the use of land banks. She is also endorsed by the current Sheriff, Henry Whitehorn, who says that they share a broader view on city safety.

Chaunta Mero said in the forum with The Shreveport-Bossier Advocate that she considers herself the underdog in this race since she has not worked in any sort of political position in her career. She has worked in the mayor's office, though, and feels like her time working in there made her a “mayor in training.” Before running for mayor, she first ran to be a part of the city council in district D. After running for a time and talking to citizens, she felt the issues ran deeper than her district and set her sights on the mayoral seat. Her campaign website is down, which makes it difficult to understand what she is running on outside of what she says in interviews. She is a democrat and emphasizes reinvesting in public parks and facilities to increase the quality of life for residents. She also believes there is a disconnect between citizens and the mayor that causes issues. She thinks things like a direct line from citizens to the mayor's office to report things like trash and blight that the city should pick up would help with things like transparency.

Tammy Phelps [5] has been in the “highest” office out of all seven candidates, being a Louisiana state representative. She was voted in in 2019 as a democrat and, in her time, helped pass 24 acts as posted on her campaign website. In her campaign, she stresses a lot on making sure the “basic needs” are met and fixed. She identifies these basic needs as infrastructure, code enforcement, and city responsiveness. During the forum with The Shreveport-Bossier City Advocate, she cited water security as her number one issue and, on her campaign website, provided a three-point plan to increase water security and safety. She wants to do a water and sewer audit, create an infrastructure dashboard to keep everyone informed, and hold monthly district meetings to talk directly with locals.

Sia Ravari [6] is running as an independent and is an immigrant who moved to Shreveport in 2004. His campaign website highlights, among other things, the importance of keeping and bringing young people to the city. He wants to do this by bringing more blue-collar jobs to the city as well as curating things that both young people and families can do. He also speaks extensively about improving downtown, which he feels qualified to do since he “helped clean downtown Houston,” as stated during the forum with The Shreveport-Bossier City Advocate. He says he built a precinct that he gave to the city and worked with the police to help secure downtown. After moving here, he recognized the same queues as in Houston and was moved to help. He believes if the police build a connection with the community through interaction, then that will create safer neighborhoods, which will bring more opportunity to the city. With that, he also pledges to hire 220 new police officers within his first week of taking office. 

Michael Williams is the 6th candidate running for the mayoral seat, and despite registering as a Democrat, he is running on a campaign that insists on taking the party divide out of politics as well as the money and running for the people. He was also a Caddo Parish commissioner for fourteen years, but his time there would not be without controversy. He owned a nonprofit named Swag Nation, and while working as commissioner, he voted for and urged his constituents to appropriate public funds to the organization. A jury found him guilty on 11 counts of fraud and sentenced him to 14 months in federal prison, as well as requiring him to pay restitution. He appealed in 2017, but his conviction was not overturned; his guilty plea and 14-month sentence were confirmed, but his restitution order was vacated. He still maintains his innocence, as during an interview with KSLA after a rally meant to clear his name, he brought to light that he is suing the sheriff and “hopes to be exonerated.” During his multiple talks with The Shreveport-Bossier City Advocate, he is very adamant about reducing crime in the city by reducing poverty, empowering the police, and “putting god back in the people’s heart.” He believes in working to help underprivileged communities with DEI programs as well as alternative punishments other than incarceration for criminals to help them not reoffend.

John Paul Young [7] is the final candidate on the ticket who is running as a republican who worked as a commissioner for District 4. His campaign website is by far the most forthcoming with information about what he will do if he takes office, which makes it easy for the average voter. On it, he lists his biggest priorities as increasing public safety, increasing water safety, cleaning up the city, and creating drivable streets. Each of those points is followed by a paragraph on what he thinks will best fix the issue. He is also the most active on social media, often posting on Instagram multiple times a day, some of which are posts criticizing the current administration and revealing potentially illegal actions by Arcenuex. He also wants to do an independent audit of the water system, which has never happened before, to understand exactly what is wrong with it and how to make it better. He says he offers energetic, competent, and careful leadership.

Early voting starts on October 20th, and election day begins on November 3rd. A democracy only works if the people participate, so I urge you to check out each candidate and get out and vote!