Sharon Weston Broome

Biography

Sharon Weston Broome (born October 1, 1956) is an American politician and former television reporter who served as mayor-president of Baton Rouge and East Baton Rouge Parish from 2017 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the first African-American woman to hold the office. Broome won the 2016 Baton Rouge mayoral election, was reelected in 2020 and lost her campaign for a third term to Republican Sid Edwards in 2024. Broome began her political career on the East Baton Rouge Parish Metropolitan Council in 1988. She represented District 29 in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1992 to 2005 and became the first woman elected speaker pro tempore of the chamber in 2004. She subsequently represented District 15 in the Louisiana State Senate from 2005 to 2016 and served as president pro tempore from 2008 to 2016.

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