Previous to his political career, Holden was a journalist and later an attorney.
He also worked at the Louisiana Department of Labor as a clerk in the Workers' Compensation Office, at the Baton Rouge City Police as a public information officer, and at the United States Census Bureau as a public relations specialist.[citation needed] He also worked at WXOK Radio in Port Allen as a news director (in 1975 and 1977), at WWL Radio in New Orleans as a Reporter (in 1977 and 1978), and at WBRZ Channel 2, Baton Rouge as a Reporter (in 1978 and 1979).[citation needed]
Holden was elected mayor-president on November 3, 2004, when he unseated the Republicanincumbent, Bobby Simpson of Baker. Holden was inaugurated on January 3, 2005.
Holden's election as the first African-American Mayor-President of East Baton Rouge Parish was fostered through the support of his urban black base but also with substantial support from suburban whites, many being Republicans. Support from the latter group was buoyed by backing from Jim Bernhard, CEO of The Shaw Group, and several other figures in business and industry. The dissatisfaction with Mayor-President Simpson was demonstrated in dramatic fashion by the fact that President Bush received 54 percent of the parish vote in his re-election campaign, and then U.S. RepresentativeRichard Hugh Baker received 69 percent. In the same election Holden matched Bush's 54 percent parishwide total.
Holden handily won reelection in the nonpartisan blanket primary held in conjunction with the national election on November 6, 2012. One of his opponents, Republican J. Michael "Mike" Walker Sr., a member of the Metro Council, questioned Holden and the city-parish for having provided security services for Louis Farrakhan when the Nation of Islam spokesman addressed a group on October 3 at Southern University. Walker's advertisement includes a video of Farrakhan thanking Holden and the police chief for security services and Farrakhan's escort to Baton Rouge from the airport in New Orleans.[6]
With 115,305 votes (60 percent), Holden defeated three opponents. Walker finished second with 65,972 ballots (34.3 percent). Two Independents held the remaining 5.7 percent of the vote.[7]
Holden led the four-candidate field in the primary with 360,679 votes (33.3 percent), qualifying him to face Nungesser in a runoff, who finished second in the primary with 324,654 votes (30 percent). In a strong third-place was John Young, who polled 313,183 votes (28.9 percent). Departing State Senator Elbert Guillory ran last with 85,460 votes (7.9 percent).[8]
In the second round of balloting, Nungesser finished with 628,864 votes (55.4 percent) to Holden's 506,578 (44.6 percent). Holden nevertheless was an easy winner in populous Orleans and East Baton Rouge parishes.[9]
In 2016, Holden, who was term-limited as Mayor-President in Baton Rouge, ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. House to represent Louisiana's 2nd congressional district held by fellow Democrat Cedric Richmond. The district has long been based in New Orleans, but had been redrawn after the 2010 census to include a slice of western Baton Rouge, including most of the capital's black precincts.
Holden finished with only 20 percent of the ballots cast to Richmond's 70 percent.[10] Sharon Weston Broome, who had succeeded Holden in the state Senate, also succeeded him as Mayor-President after her 52-48 percent victory over Republican state Senator Bodi White in the runoff election held on December 10, 2016.[11]
Notes
^The office of "Mayor-President" in the Baton Rouge area is an uncommon position in municipal governments that consolidates the executive offices of "Mayor of Baton Rouge" and "President of East Baton Rouge Parish". Though the City of Baton Rouge and East Baton Rouge Parish have a consolidated government, this differs from a traditional consolidated city-county government, as the cities of Zachary, Baker, and Central operate their own individual city governments within East Baton Rouge Parish.
