Sharon Weston Broome

Sharon Weston Broome
Member of the Louisiana Senate
from the 15th district
In office
December 2004  January 11, 2016
Preceded by Melvin Lee "Kip" Holden
Succeeded by Regina Barrow
Louisiana State Senate
President Pro Tempore
In office
2008  January 11, 2016
Preceded by Diana Bajoie
Succeeded by Gerald Long
Louisiana State Representative for District 29 (East and West Baton Rouge parishes)
In office
1992–2004
Preceded by Clyde Kimball
Succeeded by Regina Barrow
Personal details
Born October 1956
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Political party Democratic
Spouse(s) Marvin Broome
Residence Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Alma mater University of Wisconsin–La Crosse,
Regent University
Occupation Communications specialist
Religion Baptist

Sharon Weston Broome (born October 1956)[1] is a Democratic former member of the Louisiana State Senate for District 15, the first African-American woman in that position, which she held from 2004 to 2016.

Her state senatorial predecessor, African-American Democrat Kip Holden, is the departing Baton Rouge Mayor-President who ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 24, 2015.[2] From 2008 to 2016, Broome was the President Pro Tempore of the state Senate. In 2011, she was elected to her second full Senate term without opposition.

From 1992 to 2004, Broome was a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for District 29. She was succeeded by her legislative assistant, Regina Barrow. She was elected Speaker Pro Tempore of the House, the first woman to have held that position. Broome is hence the first woman to serve in the number-two leadership position in both legislative chambers.

In 2002, Representative Broome introduced House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 74 which condemned "Darwinism" as justifying racism and Nazism. The bill was amended to remove allusions to Darwin and passed.[3] In 2012, sponsored a bill requiring doctors to let a woman hear the heartbeat of a fetus (if present) before performing an abortion.[4] The bill was signed into law by Governor Bobby Jindal on June 8, 2012.[5]

Before being elected to state office, Broome, a native of Chicago, Illinois, served on the Baton Rouge Metro Council. She holds two degrees in communications and worked as a reporter for WBRZ-TV for five years.[2]

Broome was among the state and local officials who endorsed the unsuccessful reelection in 2014 of Democrat U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu.[6] Term-limited in the Senate, Broome is the first candidate to declare her intentions to run in 2016 to succeed Holden as Mayor-President for East Baton Rouge Parish.[7] Several Republican candidates are also running for Mayor-President.

Broome was succeeded in the state Senate by Regina Barrow, who had also followed her the House of Representatives. Barrow was succeeded in the House by Metro Council member Ronnie Edwards, who died of pancreatic cancer after only forty-four days of service. Both Barrow and Edwards were born in Wilkinson County, Mississippi.[8]

References

Louisiana House of Representatives
Preceded by
Clyde Kimball
Louisiana State Representative for
District 29 (East and West Baton Rouge parishes)

Sharon Weston Broome
1992 2004

Succeeded by
Regina Barrow
Preceded by
Kip Holden
Louisiana State Senator for
District 10 (East Baton Rouge Parish)

Sharon Weston Broome
2004 2016

Succeeded by
Regina Barrow
Preceded by
Diana Bajoie
Louisiana State Senate President Pro Tempore

Sharon Weston Broome
20082016

Succeeded by
Gerald Long

External links


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, April 12, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.