Sharon Weston Broome

Sharon Weston Broome (born October 1956)^[1] is a Democratic former member of the Louisiana State Senate for District 15, the first African-American woman in that position, which she held from 2004 to 2016.

Her state senatorial predecessor, Democrat Kip Holden, is the departing Baton Rouge Mayor-President who ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 24, 2015.^[2] From 2008 to 2016, Broome was the President Pro Tempore of the state Senate. In 2011, she was elected to her second full Senate term without opposition.

From 1992 to 2004, Broome was a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for District 29. She was succeeded by her legislative assistant, Regina Barrow. She was elected Speaker Pro Tempore of the House, the first woman to have held that position. Broome is hence the first woman to serve in the number-two leadership position in both legislative chambers.

In 2002, Representative Broome introduced House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 74 which condemned "Darwinism" as justifying racism and Nazism. The bill was amended to remove allusions to Darwin and passed.^[3] In 2012, sponsored a bill requiring doctors to let a woman hear the heartbeat of a fetus (if present) before performing an abortion.^[4] The bill was signed into law by Governor Bobby Jindal on June 8, 2012.^[5]

Before being elected to state office, Broome, a native of Chicago, Illinois, served on the Baton Rouge Metro Council. She holds two degrees in communications and worked as a reporter for WBRZ-TV for five years.^[2]

Broome was among the state and local officials who endorsed the unsuccessful reelection in 2014 of Democrat U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu.^[6] Term-limited in the Senate, Broome is the first candidate to declare her intentions to run in 2016 to succeed Holden as Mayor-President for East Baton Rouge Parish.^[7] Several Republican candidates are also running for Mayor-President.

Broome was succeeded in the state Senate by Regina Barrow, who had also followed her the House of Representatives. Barrow was succeeded in the House by Metro Council member Ronnie Edwards, who died of pancreatic cancer after only forty-four days of service. Both Barrow and Edwards were born in Wilkinson County, Mississippi.^[8]

References

External links

• Louisiana State Senate – Sharon Weston Broome official government website