Madison Parish Sheriff's Deputy Chad Ezell and incumbent Sheriff Sammie Byrd are headed for a runoff in the race for sheriff after the two came away with 32 and 30 percent of the votes, respectively, in Saturday's primary election.
Challenger Donnell Rose came away with 28 percent of the vote, while Tallulah Chief of Police Buster McCoy took 11 percent.
Elsewhere in parish races, incumbents led the way as state Sen. Katrina Jackson garnered 68% of the vote in Madison over challenger James Smith in her bid for re-election in District 34 and C. Travis Johnson took 61 percent of the parish vote over James Davis Jr. and Clark White Jr.
In the races for seats on the Madison Parish Police Jury, Jerry Hicks won with 53 percent of the vote in District 1 after being appointed to his seat this year, defeating challenger Wayne McKnight; incumbent Dave Wilson III won District 3 with 56 percent of the vote over challenger Bernard Wright; incumbent Johnny Hughes garnered 53 percent of the vote in District 4 over challenger Beverly Whitney-Cooper; and incumbent Jane Gladys Sanders took in 44 percent of the vote in District 5 over challengers C.J. Oney - who will will move on to the runoff with 36 percent of the vote, - and Sonya Grayson-Banson.
Louisiana holds what is commonly referred to as a jungle primary, meaning all candidates, regardless of party affiliation, run simultaneously, with any candidate receiving more than 50 percent of the vote winning the race. If no candidate receives at least 50 percent, the two candidates with the most votes will move on the the runoff election.
This year's runoff election will be held Sat., Nov. 18.
All results are unofficial numbers reported from the Louisiana Secretary of State's office with all 27 Madison Parish precincts reporting.
