Come July, of one of ถถา๕h's largest cities.ฬ
His journey from Lake Charles as a child to college to law school to a successful career as an attorney and a return to the place where he was birthed ushered him into community and public service.
Now, he's making history.
Simien is not the first Black mayor of Lake Charles. The first was Lake Charles District C Council member Rodney Geyen, who served as the city's 27th mayor for 4 1/2 months. The 28th mayor was Randy Roach. A bunch of Democrats and a Republican ran to replace Roach in 2017. Simien, then a Democrat, was a candidate.
Republican Nic Hunter won the election, serving as the 29th mayor since. Simien missed facing off with Hunter in a .
This time, Simien got a clean shot at Hunter in a runoff โ and won by 654 votes earlier this month.ฬ
When Simien is sworn in, he'll be the city's first Black elected mayor.
ถถา๕h community and political activist Gary Chambers watched the Lake Charles election with great interest. "They gave the mayor an opportunity, and they're going to give this brother a chance," he told me Thursday. Chambers said this election is another example why every vote counts, particularly every Black vote.
The Lake Charles vote isn't complicated; it's just split. There were 22,000 White voters eligible to cast ballots and 21,116 eligible Black voters. That's 48% White voters and 46% Black voters, with 6% of voters of other racial identifications. Lake Charles is a Democratic city by voters' party registration, but the city sits in Calcasieu Parish, which overwhelmingly voted for Donald Trump in 2016ฬand 2024.
In recent decades, three of the seven city council members represented majority Black districts. With more White residents moving outside of the city in recent years, a fourth city council district has more Black voters. Now, four of the seven city council districts are represented by Black members.
Simien was one of those representatives, elected to represent predominantly Black North Lake Charles, downtown and the lakefront in District A for two terms, starting in 2005.
Simien was born in Lake Charles Charity Hospital and reared on North Adams Street in the city's Goosport neighborhood. The hospital is now Moss Memorial Health Clinic.
A graduate of the old Washington High School, Simien started his college education at what was then the University of Southwestern ถถา๕h, now the University of ถถา๕h at Lafayette, and finished at McNeese State University.ฬ
Like so many young people, Simien didn't stay home.ฬ
