Jeff Hall elected in House District 26

Jeff Hall won a landslide victory Saturday in a special election for the House District 26 seat.

Hall, a retired Cleco executive, had 3,361 votes or 84.07 percent to defeat two other candidates, according to the Secretary of State's Office.

Daniel Williams, Alexandria's Community Services director, was second with 457 votes or 11.43 percent.

Alice "Red" Hammond, a retired Air Force captain, had 180 votes or 4.5 percent.

All three candidates are Alexandria Democrats.

Hall, 63, came in second in last year's Alexandria mayoral race. He said having his mayoral election team in place for the House election was a factor in his victory.

"I think that the biggest advantage was the message that they (voters) heard so many times was clear and believable. The message goes through whether you're running for mayor or running for state representative," Hall told The Town Talk Saturday night.

"We continued the same message — being above-board, business capability and a desire to be of service rather than a guy that's looking for a job."

The special election was held to determine a successor to Herbert Dixon, who resigned on Dec. 10 to focus on his health as he fights bladder cancer.

Hall said he will seek to take office as soon as possible and prepare for the legislative session that begins April 13.

Hall will serve out the remainder of Dixon's term, which ends in January 2016, and plans to run for a full four-year term in the fall.

He said the House election came up unexpectedly just after the mayor's race with Dixon resigning.

"None of us saw any of this coming. It just worked out that way," Hall said.

"God works in mysterious ways."

District 26 includes most of Alexandria and the southern part of Pineville.

In the only other Central Louisiana election on Saturday, Heather Cloud was re-elected mayor of Turkey Creek in Evangeline Parish.

Cloud, a Republican, received 134 votes or 53.17 percent to defeat Bert K. Campbell, no party, who had 118 votes or 46.83 percent.

That race was a rematch of the mayoral election last fall. Campbell appeared to have narrowly won the fall race, but a new election was ordered by the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal because some votes were declared invalid because of vote-buying allegations.