A physical therapist who trains for marathons, a site chemist with a doctorate from LSU, and a former Baton Rouge Area Chamber manager are the three first-time candidates squaring off for the open District 7 seat on the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board. Hannah Amoroso, Chris Spalatin and Michael Vincent are seeking to replace Mike Gaudet, who did not seek reelection after representing the south Baton Rouge district for almost a decade. With outside political action committees pouring tens of thousands of dollars into the contest, it is shaping up to be the most expensive of Baton Rouge's seven contested school board races this fall.
Amoroso, 49, launched her campaign in April by running the 35-mile perimeter of District 7, a move that doubled as both a campaign kickoff and, she has said, a boost to her own mental health. According to The Advocate, Amoroso has been an active parent in the district for 14 years; she and her husband both graduated from Baton Rouge Magnet High, one of her children graduated from there as well, and her youngest still attends the school. She is running as a No Party candidate, a status confirmed on her campaign website, and she has positioned herself as untainted by outside money or party affiliation, saying she would work for students rather than partisan agendas, special interests or big donors.
That framing hasn't stopped outside money from flowing into the race. Amoroso reported raising $35,137 from 142 individual donors, the most of any of the 20 school board candidates on the ballot this year, per The Advocate's review of campaign finance reports. Spalatin and Vincent raised $24,645 and $31,330 in that same filing period, respectively, though more recent figures cited in the seed reporting put Spalatin's total near $27,000 and Vincent's near $43,000. Both men have also benefited from direct contributions and independent spending by groups affiliated with the Baton Rouge Alliance for Students, which has endorsed nine of the 20 candidates and given each of its picks between $3,000 and $6,000.
PAC Spending Dwarfs What Candidates Raise Themselves
Independent groups have spent about $64,000 supporting Spalatin and roughly $34,000 backing Vincent, and a group called Red Stick Leaders for Students IE PAC has sent two mailers attacking Amoroso in recent days. The spending fits a broader pattern: the Baton Rouge Alliance for Students and its political arms had amassed roughly $900,000 to spend on East Baton Rouge school board races this cycle, compared with about $285,000 raised by all 20 candidates combined, the same Advocate report found. Still, that overall total trails 2026's predecessor cycle, when spending and fundraising across the board topped $2.5 million, according to the same account.
The Alliance, which spent more than $900,000 during the 2022 board elections and has raised a comparable sum this time, has emerged as the most visible outside player. At a candidate forum covered by the outlet, Vincent was the only Alliance-endorsed candidate who did not show up; thirteen of the 20 parish school board candidates attended overall. Statewide, seven of the board's nine districts have contested races this fall, while Districts 5 and 9 each have only a single candidate running, according to WAFB.
Superintendent's Indictment Shadows Race
The race also carries the shadow of Superintendent Lamont Cole's legal troubles. Cole, a former Baton Rouge Metro Council member, was indicted on multiple charges related to his time on the council, which WAFB reported included two counts of public bribery, two counts of money laundering and malfeasance in office. Cole has denied the allegations, telling the station, “I've never accepted cash, bribe, anything of value from Terrell Jackson or Erica Jackson or anyone else.”
Cole's legal troubles remain part of the backdrop to the race.
Three Very Different Paths to the Same Ballot
Spalatin, 44, is a managing director at Adds Up Consulting who grew up in Washington, D.C. and moved from Los Angeles to Baton Rouge in 2019 after a fire nearly destroyed his family's California home. He spent three years as senior manager of small business and entrepreneurship building at the Baton Rouge Area Chamber, now known as the Greater Baton Rouge Economic Partnership, and has two school-age children attending LSU Lab School. He is a Democrat endorsed by the Democratic Party, and he wants to simplify the school application process while arguing that school performance shouldn't be judged solely by test scores.
Vincent, 46, is a site chemist at Skyfall Biologicals and a native of Lafayette who earned a doctorate in chemistry from LSU in 2008. He serves as vice president of CODOFIL's board of directors, an organization that recruits teachers from overseas to support French instruction in Louisiana. A Republican endorsed by the Republican Party, Vincent favors data-driven school closure decisions based on enrollment, performance and community needs, and says he is open to bringing more charter schools into the district to make local education more attractive.
Amoroso has drawn a sharper line on charters, saying she's concerned about further expansion beyond their current roughly 15% share of enrollment, which she argues produces no measurable additional benefit. She has also said she would be willing to close a school if it is too small to provide an adequate education, a question with real stakes after East Baton Rouge Parish closed nine schools in 2025, with officials signaling more consolidations could follow.
A District With a History of Nail-Biters
Whoever wins will inherit a seat with a track record of razor-thin margins. Gaudet won three close elections to hold the District 7 seat, including a 2022 runoff against Cathy Carmichael that he took by just 124 votes, according to The Advocate. Amoroso had supported all three of Gaudet's past opponents. Gaudet himself was often described as a Republican swing vote on major school board decisions, including during the 2024 superintendent search, and the board under his tenure voted to oppose 2025 legislation seeking to create a St. George school district.
Given that history, the current three-way contest is considered likely to require a runoff, which is scheduled for December 12 if no candidate secures a majority next week. Candidates at recent forums, including one covered by WAFB, have focused heavily on early childhood education, teacher retention and transportation as the district looks past both the superintendent's legal fight and the lingering questions over school consolidation.
