Sherman Nathaniel Copelin, Jr. | |
---|---|
Louisiana State Representative for District 99 ()Lower Ninth Ward in Orleans Parish | |
In office 1986–2000 | |
Preceded by | Jon D. Johnson |
Succeeded by | Leonard Lucas |
Speaker Pro Tempore of the Louisiana House | |
In office 1992–1996 | |
Preceded by | Hunt Downer |
Succeeded by | Peppi Bruneau |
Personal details | |
Born | August 1943 New Orleans,Louisiana,USA |
Political party | Democratic |
Alma mater | St. Augustine High School Dillard University |
Occupation | Businessman |
Sherman Nathaniel Copelin,Jr. (born August 1943), [1] is an American politician and businessman from his native New Orleans,Louisiana.
The son of a funeral director,Copelin graduated from St. Augustine High School and then became active in student politics at historically black Dillard University,where he became student body president. He was hired to serve as an aide in the administration of Mayor Victor Schiro in 1968. In the 1970s,he and Don Hubbard emerged as the leaders of the black political organization called SOUL (Southern Organization for Unified Leadership). SOUL's effectiveness in rallying the support of African American voters for candidates like Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards and New Orleans Mayor Moon Landrieu made him a powerful figure in New Orleans and Louisiana politics. [2]
In the 1970s Copelin headed Superdome Services,Inc.,a politically connected company contracted by the Landrieu administration to provide janitorial and security services for the then new Louisiana Superdome. Scandal emerged when Copelin was accused of receiving payoffs from companies seeking to obtain contracts from City Hall.
In 1986,Copelin was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives from New Orleans's Lower Ninth Ward. He was subsequently the Speaker Pro Tempore. Success in business dealings led Copelin to move to Eastern New Orleans outside his district. The residency issue became an issue in his re-election campaign,and he was defeated in 1999 by the Reverend Leonard Lucas.
Copelin ran unsuccessfully in the New Orleans mayoral election of 1994.
Copelin is currently the head of the New Orleans East Business Association,and since Hurricane Katrina has publicly opposed the construction of new apartment complexes in New Orleans East.
Bridges, Tyler. Bad Bet on the Bayou: The Rise of Gambling in Louisiana and the Fall of Governor Edwin Edwards. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001.
DuBos, Clancy. "SOUL on the Ropes." Gambit Weekly. March 20, 2001.
Moon Edwin Landrieu was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56th mayor of New Orleans from 1970 to 1978. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented New Orleans' Twelfth Ward in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1960 to 1966, served on the New Orleans City Council as a member at-large from 1966 to 1970, and was the United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under U.S. president Jimmy Carter from 1979 to 1981.
Edwin Washington Edwards was an American politician and member of the Democratic Party who served as the U.S. representative for Louisiana's 7th congressional district from 1965 to 1972 and as the 50th governor of Louisiana for four terms, twice as many elected terms as any other Louisiana chief executive. He served a total of 16 years in gubernatorial office, which at 5,784 days is the sixth-longest such tenure in post-Constitutional U.S. history.
Ernest Nathan "Dutch" Morial, was an American political figure and a leading civil rights advocate. He was the first African-American mayor of New Orleans, serving from 1978 to 1986. He was the father of Marc Morial, who subsequently served as Mayor of New Orleans from 1994 to 2002.
Mitchell Joseph Landrieu is an American lawyer and politician who served as Mayor of New Orleans from 2010 to 2018. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana from 2004 to 2010.
Louis Elwood Jenkins Jr., known as Woody Jenkins, is a newspaper editor in Baton Rouge and Central City, Louisiana, who served as a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1972 to 2000 and waged three unsuccessful races for the United States Senate in 1978, 1980, and 1996.
Victor Hugo Schiro, was an American politician who served on the New Orleans City Council and as Mayor from 1961 to 1970.
Paul Jude Hardy is an American attorney from Baton Rouge, in the U.S. state of Louisiana, who was the first Republican to have been elected lieutenant governor of the U.S. state of Louisiana since Reconstruction. He served in the second-ranking post under Governor Buddy Roemer from 1988 to 1992.
The first round of the New Orleans mayoral election of 2006 took place on April 22, 2006; a runoff between incumbent Mayor Ray Nagin and Louisiana Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu took place on May 20, resulting in reelection for Mayor Nagin. The Mayor of New Orleans is the top official in New Orleans' mayor-council system of government.
The New Orleans mayoral election of 2002 was an election for Mayor of New Orleans; the primary round of voting was held on February 2, 2002, followed by a runoff on March 2. It resulted in the election of Ray Nagin as mayor.
The New Orleans mayoral election of 1994 was held on March 5, 1994 and resulted in the election of Marc Morial as Mayor of New Orleans.
The New Orleans mayoral election of 1982 resulted in the reelection of Ernest Morial to a second term as mayor of New Orleans.
The New Orleans mayoral election of 1977 resulted in the election of Ernest Morial as the first African-American mayor of New Orleans.
The New Orleans mayoral election of 1973 resulted in the reelection of Moon Landrieu to his second term as mayor of New Orleans. The primary round of voting was held on November 10; no runoff was required.
The 1995 Louisiana gubernatorial election was held on November 18, 1995 to elect the Governor of Louisiana.
The 2014 United States Senate election in Louisiana was held on November 4, 2014, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Louisiana. As no candidate won a majority of the vote, a runoff was held on December 6, 2014.
The 2015 Louisiana gubernatorial election was held on November 21, 2015, to elect the governor of Louisiana. Incumbent Republican Governor Bobby Jindal was not eligible to run for re-election to a third term because of term limits established by the Louisiana Constitution.
Henry English Braden, IV, known as Hank Braden, was an American lawyer, lobbyist, and Democratic politician from New Orleans, Louisiana.
Dorothy Mae DeLavallade Taylor, was an educator and politician in New Orleans, the first African-American woman to be elected to and serve in the Louisiana House of Representatives. From 1971 to 1980, she represented District 20, since renumbered, in her native New Orleans. She had started her career as a teacher in the Head Start Program, designed to benefit children in their early years.
The 2016 United States Senate election in Louisiana took place on November 8, 2016, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Louisiana, concurrently with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
The 2019 Louisiana gubernatorial election was held to elect the governor of Louisiana. Incumbent Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards won re-election to a second term, defeating Republican businessman Eddie Rispone. Edwards became the first Democratic Governor of Louisiana to win re-election to a second consecutive term in 44 years since Edwin Edwards in 1975. It was the closest Louisiana gubernatorial election since 1979.