Political career
A Republican,Batt served as the only member of his party on the New Orleans City Council,from 2002 to 2006,having represented District A.
District A runs from the Mississippi River to Lake Pontchartrain just below the Jefferson Parish line in New Orleans. It includes some of the most affluent sections of town,and some the most seriously damaged by the Levee failures of 2005 after Hurricane Katrina. The severe breach of the 17th Street Canal in the West End and Lakeview neighborhoods which was responsible for much of the flooding of the city is in District A. The largest section of District A to escape severe flooding was Carrollton.
Batt is currently serving as Deputy Chairman of the Republican State Central Committee as well as Chairman of the Orleans Parish Republican Executive Committee. He was also elected Chairman of the Orleans Parish Board of Supervisors of Elections in 2012 (an organization in which he had been a member since 2008). Other boards and commission seats held by Batt are as follows:Board Member of the Planning and Technical Committee of the New Orleans Planning Commission from 2008-2010,President of the Sugar Bowl Committee from 2013-2014,Crimestoppers Trustee from 2004 to present,Board Member for Beacon of Hope from 2006 to present,and Board Member of the Delgado Foundation from 2006 to present
John Holmes Overton Sr., was an attorney and Democratic US Representative and US Senator from Louisiana. His nephew, Thomas Overton Brooks, was also a US representative, from the Shreveport-based 4th district of Louisiana.
John Minor Wisdom, one of the "Fifth Circuit Four", and a Republican from Louisiana, was a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit during the 1950s and 1960s, when that court became known for a series of crucial decisions that advanced the goals of the Civil Rights Movement. At that time, the Fifth Circuit included not only Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, but also Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and the Panama Canal Zone.
Murphy James Foster was the 31st Governor of the U.S. state of Louisiana, an office he held for two terms from 1892 to 1900. Foster supported the Louisiana Constitution of 1898, which effectively disfranchised the black majority, who were mostly Republicans. This led to Louisiana becoming a one-party Democratic state for several generations and excluding African Americans from the political system.
Allen Joseph Ellender was a U.S. senator from Houma in Terrebonne Parish in south Louisiana, who served from 1937 until 1972 when he died in office in Maryland at the age of eighty-one. He was a Democrat who was originally allied with Huey Long. As Senator he compiled a generally conservative record, voting 77% of the time with the Conservative Coalition on domestic issues. A staunch segregationist, he signed the Southern Manifesto in 1956, voted against the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and opposed anti-lynching legislation in 1938. Unlike many Democrats he was not a "hawk" in foreign policy and opposed the Vietnam War.
Felix Edward Hébert was an American journalist and congressman from Louisiana. He represented the New Orleans-based 1st congressional district as a Democrat for 18 consecutive terms, from 1941 until his retirement in 1977. He remains Louisiana's longest-serving U.S. representative.
Patrick Allen Ramsey is a former American football quarterback. He was drafted by the Washington Redskins 32nd overall in the 2002 NFL Draft. He played college football at Tulane.
John Leigh "Jay" Dardenne, Jr. is an American lawyer and politician from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who is serving as commissioner of administration for Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards. A Republican, Dardenne served as the 53rd lieutenant governor of his state from 2010 to 2016. Running as a Republican, he won a special election for lieutenant governor held in conjunction with the regular November 2, 2010 general election. At the time, Dardenne was Louisiana secretary of state. Formerly, Dardenne was a member of the Louisiana State Senate for the Baton Rouge suburbs, a position he filled from 1992 until his election as secretary of state on September 30, 2006.
Suzanne Haik Terrell is the first and only Republican woman elected to statewide office in Louisiana. A practicing attorney, Terrell was the state's final commissioner of elections, a position which she held from 2000 to 2004. In 2002, she was the Republican nominee for United States Senate, losing a hotly contested and closely watched race against incumbent Senator Mary Landrieu. In 2005, U.S. President George W. Bush appointed Terrell to a position as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the United States Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration. Terrell is currently a partner with the New Orleans law firm of Hangartner, Rydberg, and Terrell.
Bryan Batt is an American actor best known for his role in the AMC series Mad Men as Salvatore Romano, an art director for the Sterling Cooper agency. Primarily a theater actor, he has had a number of starring roles in movies and television as well. His performance in the musical adaptation of Saturday Night Fever earned him one of New York City's more unusual honors, a caricature at Sardi's.
James Bryan Wagner, known as Bryan Wagner, was the first Republican since Reconstruction to have been elected to the New Orleans City Council. He filled a vacancy of an unexpired term in District A from May 1980 to April 1982 and a full term until 1986.
Lane Anderson Carson is a licensed building contractor, real estate broker, and attorney in private practice who resides in Covington, the parish seat of St. Tammany Parish. He was previously the Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs in the administration of former Governor Bobby Jindal. He is also a former chief of the Civil Division of the 22nd Judicial District for St. Tammany Parish and a former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives.
Shelley Stephenson Midura is a resident of New Orleans, Louisiana and a former member of the New Orleans City Council. A Democrat, she represented District A from 2006 to her retirement in 2010. She first won election when she defeated Republican incumbent Jay Batt. She announced in 2009 that she would not seek reelection.
Tulane University Law School is the law school of Tulane University. It is located on Tulane's Uptown campus in New Orleans, Louisiana. Established in 1847, it is the 12th oldest law school in the United States.
Ánh Quang "Joseph" Cao is a Vietnamese-American politician who was the U.S. Representative for Louisiana's 2nd congressional district from 2009 to 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party. In April 2011, Cao announced his candidacy for the office of Attorney General of Louisiana, but in September 2011 he pulled out of the race. The incumbent Buddy Caldwell ran unopposed for a second term.
William Eugene Davis, known as W. Eugene Davis, is a Senior United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. His chambers are in New Orleans, Louisiana.
James B. Letten is an American attorney. A career prosecutor, Letten served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana for more than eleven years. By the time Letten resigned as U.S. Attorney in December 2012, he was the longest-serving U.S. Attorney in the country.
Walter John Leger III, known as Walt Leger, was Speaker pro tempore of the Louisiana House of Representatives and the representative for District 91, which includes Central City, Uptown, the Lower Garden District, the Irish Channel, parts of Broadmoor, Gert Town, and Hollygrove in New Orleans, Louisiana. Leger is a member of the Democratic Party.
Eric Frederick Skrmetta is an American politician that represents District 1 on the Louisiana Public Service Commission (PSC), an influential regulatory agency which was the political springboard for former governors Huey Long, Jimmie Davis, and John McKeithen. Commissioner Skrmetta was born 1958 October 1 in New Orleans. Skrmetta is a member of the Republican Party.
Joseph J. Bouie Jr. is an American politician and academic from the state of Louisiana. A Democrat, Bouie has been member of the Louisiana State Senate for the 3rd district since 2020.
Stephanie Anne Hilferty is the Republican member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for District 94 in Orleans and Jefferson parishes. She is a commercial real estate sales and leasing agent with SRSA Commercial Real Estate in Metairie, Louisiana.
