Ascension Parish voters went to the polls Tuesday and reshaped a school board facing term limits for the first time in its history, with one incumbent and two newcomers winning outright while two races head to a December runoff. In the closely watched District 6, Seat B contest, Bart Himel led a three-person field with 39% of the vote, while Sandra Denham-Lightfoot trailed with 38% and Landon Lambert finished third with 23%, setting up a runoff between the top two finishers.
The unofficial results were reported by the Louisiana Secretary of State and compiled by Yahoo News, which showed Denham-Lightfoot with 2,809 votes and Lambert with 1,686 votes in the District 6, Seat B race, with all precincts reporting. Himel, a Republican who has worked for Baton Rouge Water Co. for 18 years, will now face Denham-Lightfoot, also a Republican, in the Dec. 12 runoff, according to The Advocate. Denham-Lightfoot has spent nearly 40 years as an educator, teaching in Ascension Parish, Livingston Parish and private schools before retiring in 2022 after 26 years at Lake Elementary, per the same report.
Lambert, who registered with no party affiliation, had sought the seat his father held for 12 years but fell short in his bid to keep it in the family. The Advocate's reporting frames the race as part of a broader shakeup tied to term limits now touching the board for the first time.
Term Limits Force Out Five Sitting Members
This year marked the first election in which Ascension Parish School Board members faced term limits, according to the Ascension Parish School Board's own website, which notes that five current members could not seek reelection in 2026 because of the limits. The board's page specifically identifies Louis Lambert, Landon Lambert's father, as the member who had filled District 6, Seat B and was term-limited this cycle. Ascension Parish voters approved the measure imposing the limits more than a decade earlier, and it caps members to a maximum of three consecutive terms, per the board's official account.
The 11-member board oversees the parish's largest employer, a district that employs roughly 3,500 people, including about 2,000 teachers, and enrolls more than 24,000 students across 33 schools and three additional programs, according to the seed reporting from The Advocate.
A Second Runoff Takes Shape in District 1
District 1 also heads to a Dec. 12 runoff, with Vera Jones leading a four-person field at 32% of the vote. Jones, a Democrat who previously worked in the school district's information technology department, will face Republican Michael Wright, who earned 28% and serves as a supervisor for special education in East Baton Rouge Parish schools. The other two District 1 candidates, Democrats Stephen “Gob” Joseph and Natalie Sullivan, finished with 21% and 20% of the vote respectively, according to The Advocate's reporting.
Three Races Decided Outright
Three other contested board seats were settled without a runoff. Rochelle Darville, a Democrat with 14 years in education, won District 3 with 66% of the vote against Torey Bennett, also a Democrat, who took 34%, Yahoo News reported, citing the Secretary of State's unofficial tally. In District 4, Seat A, board vice president and incumbent Marty Bourgeois won reelection with 65% of the vote over Vicki Auguste, who registered with no party affiliation and took 35%.
In District 5, Seat B, Republican Greg Hillensbeck won with 62% of the vote against Breigh Rainey Rhodes, who registered with no party affiliation and earned 38%, per the same Yahoo News count. Hillensbeck is a part-owner and operator of Kelly Pest Control Inc., a family-owned pest and termite control business operating in Ascension Parish and surrounding areas, according to The Advocate.
Beyond the contested races, five board members who were eligible for another term ran unopposed and were reelected outright, The Advocate reported, rounding out a board that will see its newest era shaped heavily by the term-limit rule now in effect for the first time. Voters in District 1 and District 6, Seat B will return to the polls Dec. 12 to settle the two remaining contests.
