March 20 election set to fill vacant Louisiana House seat

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana House Speaker Clay Schexnayder has set a special election to fill a vacant seat in the state House of Representatives.

Republican Charles Henry of Jefferson Parish abruptly resigned Monday from the 105-member chamber, only a year into his four-year term, saying his priorities had shifted because of the coronavirus pandemic and the birth of his son.

The special election for the District 82 seat will be held March 20, with a runoff on April 24 if needed. Those are the same dates being used for other municipal elections and for special elections to fill two open Louisiana congressional seats.

The candidate signup period for the state legislative race will be held from Jan. 25 through Jan. 27, under the proclamation issued by Schexnayder.