This voter education guide is published primarily as a resource and does not constitute an endorsement of any candidate or proposition by ANTIGRAVITY Magazine.
Welcome once again to your ANTIGRAVITY voter education guide for the March 14 election. On this ballot, you will be voting on a handful of state legislators.
We have published these guides since 2014—previously in collaboration with the New Orleans Harm Reduction Network and now under the ANTIGRAVITY banner. We utilized national media, local media, and social media. Our research included but was not limited to public records, campaign finance reports, court filings, and real estate records.
Despite lacking faith in politicians or the political order, we create this document as a way to dissect and map power. We do not offer endorsements, but we do provide summaries, as this is a resource designed to aid and alleviate the work for you, the reader. News relevant to this ballot will continue to break. We are but one resource, and we hope that you consult as many as possible before heading to the polls.
We suggest you bring a photo ID to the polls, but if you do not have one you can still cast a ballot by signing a voter affidavit which vouches for your identity. The secretary of state audits all voter affidavits after the election to ensure that you are who you say you are.
If you have a disability, you are entitled to receive assistance to cast your vote. If your assigned polling place is not accessible, report the issue to the ADA compliance officer at ada@sos.la.gov or 225-362-5113.
The makeup of the ballot, including texts of propositions, as well as information about how, where, and when to register and vote is based on information provided by the Louisiana secretary of state and the City of New Orleans website. For info on what your ballot looks like, as well as information about disability and voting, go to the SoS website, voterportal.sos.la.gov.
If you find that you cannot in good conscience cast a vote for a specific ballot measure, you are allowed to skip that ballot item. According to the secretary of state’s office, “A voter cannot cast a blank ballot; otherwise, they are free to vote for as many or as few races/questions as are on their ballot—from all of them to just one of them.”
This voter guide is offered without cost or sponsorship as a service to our beloved readers, but donations are accepted to help cover research fees and labor. A suggested donation of whatever your lifestyle considers $5 is appreciated. Payments can be made via Venmo or PayPal to @antigravitymag (all one word, no dashes). Please include “Voter Guide” or “VG” in the comment or memo.
Did you make it to the mid-Mardi Gras election? Well, if you didn’t, you have another shot to choose some of your state representatives. We have two runoff elections in front of us, so let’s refresh ourselves on who’s vying for our vote.
State Senator
3rd Senatorial District
“Kenn” Barnes (D)
Sidney J. Barthelemy II (D)
The 3rd District covers parts of New Orleans East, Arabi, Chalmette, Gentilly, Holy Cross, Marigny, and the Bywater.
In the February 7 special election, Kenn Barnes won 22% of the vote, allowing him to advance to the March 14 runoff against Sidney Barthelemy, who had 44% of the vote. Barnes has the endorsement of the Orleans Democratic Parish Executive Committee (DPEC), of which he is a member, representing Orleans Parish District D. A self-described community advocate, Barnes is currently a criminal defense and personal injury lawyer, on-air legal analyst for WWL-TV, and assistant city attorney for the City of New Orleans. In the past, he has worked as a public defender as well as Special Counsel for the Louisiana Supreme Court, advising on the criminal justice and specialty courts including the drug courts.
His platform is what you might expect, focusing on the economy, affordable insurance and housing stability, expanded education and youth programs (including expanding access to early childhood education), crime prevention (which includes holding systems accountable and “help[ing] people return to productive, stable lives”), and neighborhood improvement via responsible use of public funds, clear oversight and accountability, and neighborhood-focused investment and maintenance. These priorities all tie into improving the economy, which is a standard liberal focus. As with many other candidates, he does not provide any in-depth plan for how these priorities would be addressed.
Barnes coaches wrestling at Xavier University and is involved in various organizations across New Orleans. It is also worth mentioning that he describes himself as a “Cat Dad” in his Instagram profile and has posted numerous photos and videos of his many feline (and canine) friends over the years.
Sidney Barthelemy won 44% of the votes in the February 7 special election. Whereas Kenn Barnes has the legal, political, and community advocate experience, Barthelemy has the political name recognition: His father is Sidney Barthelemey who, in 1974, was the first Black senator voted to the Louisiana State Senate since Reconstruction and was also mayor of New Orleans from 1986 to 1994. For the past 20 years, the younger Barthelemy (who is a Morehouse College graduate) has been involved in construction and redevelopment projects around New Orleans and was part of efforts to rebuild and repair after Hurricane Katrina. He is the president of B-Squared Construction, which, according to the company website, focuses on community-based projects in New Orleans. These include the Urban League Head Start Center in New Orleans and Fire Station No. 20 in Metairie. In his candidate personal finance disclosure statement, he lists himself as the owner of B-Squared Construction; it is unclear how future contracts will be affected by his potential role as senator. Since the February 7 special election, he has received the endorsement of the Greater New Orleans AFL-CIO.
On his campaign website, Barthelemy makes sure to emphasize his New Orleans roots and role in the community. He is a former Board Chair of Benjamin E. Mays Preparatory School, a Leadership Fellow of the Justice Revius O. Ortique Leadership Institute, and is involved in organizations such as the Bunch Club and the Coterie Social Aid & Pleasure Club.
Barthelemy’s campaign platform focuses on—you guessed it—economic growth, affordable insurance, improving education, safer streets, and beautifying neighborhoods. As has been mentioned with other candidates, he does not provide any sort of in-depth (or, really any) explanation for how he hopes to achieve these goals.
Summary: Kenn Barnes is an attorney and community advocate. Sidney J. Barthelemy II owns a construction company and is active in community organizations (and is the son of former Mayor Sidney Barthelemy).
State Representative
100th Representative District
Dana Henry (D)
Kenya Rounds (D)
The 100th Representative District represents New Orleans East. In the February 7 election, Dana Henry received 30% of the vote while Kenya Rounds received 33%, sending these two candidates to a runoff.
Family law and juvenile attorney and charter school advocate Dana Henry is running on his education background. He cites his experience sitting on the board of a charter school as the start of his interest in public service. In 2014 he was appointed as director of Stand for Children Louisiana, a since-shuttered school choice organization. In 2021 Henry was voted onto the New Orleans Public Library Board of Directors, despite vocal opposition from the community due to his enthusiastic support for Proposition 2, which would have reduced the library budget by a third, as a good reason to keep him away from library leadership. Beyond the ire over the proposed library budget cuts, there were other shady aspects of Henry’s involvement in the millage campaign, including sharing a stock photo on social media of someone he claimed was a “teen mother” who supported Proposition 2, and falsely claiming the Bureau of Governmental Research supported the measure. Upon the approval of his appointment, Henry said his goal was to bring the library into a closer working relationship with public schools, early childhood education, and literacy campaigns.
Kenya Rounds is a practicing personal injury, contract, and criminal law attorney at his own law firm, though he received an ethics violation in 2016 for commingling client and personal finances, which resulted in a deferred suspension of his license for six months. He unsuccessfully ran to be a member of the Democratic State Central Committee (DSCC) back in 2020, but was able to join 11 others as current members of the Democratic Party Executive Committee (DPEC). Rounds was hired as an attorney for the board of Edgar P. Harney Spirit of Excellence Academy and, in 2018, was involved with handling a financial mismanagement case against the school’s CFO, as well as defended the board against a suit filed by a fired school principal who challenged the board on the school’s finances. That same year, Rounds was involved in the cover-up of sexual harassment allegations against the then-president of the Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club. Rounds’ campaign website mentions lowering insurance costs, strengthening public safety, and bringing more investment to New Orleans East.
Summary: In our last guide, we wrote that “Dana Henry and Kenya Rounds both have histories that don’t exactly inspire a lot of confidence,” so it’s ironic that these are the two that made it to the runoff.
Election Info
The deadline to request a mail ballot is March 10 by 4:30 p.m (other than military and overseas voters).
The deadline for the registrar of voters to receive a mail ballot is March 13 by 4:30 p.m. (other than military and overseas voters).
Early Voting
Early voting for this election begins on February 28 and ends on March 7 (excluding Sunday, March 1), from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday election day voting hours are 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
City Hall
RM 1W24; 1300 Perdido St. 70112
Algiers Courthouse
RM 105; 225 Morgan St. 70114
Voting Machine Warehouse
8870 Chef Menteur Highway 70127
Lake Vista Community Center
6500 Spanish Fort Blvd. 70124
This voter guide is offered without cost as a service to our beloved readers, but donations are accepted to help cover research fees and labor. A suggested donation of whatever your lifestyle considers $5 is appreciated. Payments can be made via Venmo or PayPal to @antigravitymag (all one word, no dashes). Please include “Voter Guide” or “VG” in the comment or memo.
If donations aren’t your thing, you can also support ANTIGRAVITY simply by signing up for our monthly newsletter—which includes early access to each issue and other info—at the top of our home page.
This voter education guide is published primarily as a resource and does not constitute an endorsement of any candidate or proposition by ANTIGRAVITY Magazine.
