Mayor’s Race Heats Up in Shreveport – Early Voting Numbers Are In

Things are getting a bit dicey in the Shreveport Mayor's race. A commercial running on local stations attacks State Senator Greg Tarver and makes some serious allegations against him. The ad also brings in information about his ex-wife.

Tarver tells KEEL News this is dirty politics and he's urged his opponent, Republican Tom Arceneaux to pull the ads. But Arceneaux says he did not pay for these ads, nor does he support the message in these commercials. He says these messages were apparently paid for by a 3rd party and he had no knowledge about what these ads would contains.

Tarver says

These new efforts not only attack me but now attack my family. I was made aware that ads attacking me were coming a few days ago. I contacted Tom and asked him to stop them. He can deny this all he wants; however, it does not change the fact that his campaign, his supporters', and contributors' involvement is more than clear. Tom’s effort to play the innocent bystander is merely a misdirection attempt from the truth.

The Senator adds:

Tom Arceneaux bears full responsibility for these ads and the voters should hold him accountable for his dishonest attempt to fool the public.

The Senator tells KEEL News this is the act of a "desperate man". Arceneaux says that is simply not the case. Tarver says the latest polling shows him with a 5 point lead over Arceneaux.

What Do the Early Voting Numbers Look Like?

Early voting wrapped up on Saturday and the numbers show the total vote in the city of Shreveport is 9131.

Of those voters, 2838 are Republicans representing 31% of the total and 5176 are Democrats or 56% of the total. 1100 voters says they are "other".

The other demographic folks are talking about is that 4421 of the early voters are Black and 4491 are white.

If you look back to the November election, there were more than 14,000 early voters with 57% Republican and 44% Democrat.

Click here to listen to both of the interviews with the candidates.