Republican David Tatman, a former member of the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board and owner of political consulting firm The Tatman Group, is generating a bit of a buzz as to whether he’ll be a candidate in Baton Rouge’s 2024 mayoral election.
In February, Tatman shared a video titled “Change is coming!” with the hashtag #Tatman2024 that hinted at his candidacy, and his website contains similar messaging.
When reached by email earlier today, Tatman said that he would be “making an announcement on July 4,” though he declined to comment on the precise nature of that announcement or confirm his intentions as a potential mayoral candidate.
Tatman’s website offers some clues about what his platform might look like should he choose to run.
“Our mission is … to propel economic development, diversify our economy and elevate the standards of education,” a statement on his website reads. “Concurrently, we must address pressing issues such as crime, traffic and corruption.”
If Tatman does enter the race, he’ll be joining two Democrats who have already announced their candidacies: former state Rep. Ted James and incumbent Sharon Weston Broome.
According to his most recently filed campaign finance report, James has raised about $506,745 and spent about $87,530 thus far.
Broome, meanwhile, has raised roughly $307,257 and spent roughly $96,567. She is running for her third term.
In Tatman’s latest campaign finance report, filed Feb. 9, he reported having about $26,858 in funds on hand at the end of 2023.
Take Our Poll
(function(d,c,j){if(!d.getElementById(j)){var pd=d.createElement(c),s;pd.id=j;pd.src=”https://s25562.pcdn.co/wp-content/plugins/polldaddy/js/polldaddy-shortcode.js”;s=d.getElementsByTagName(c)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(pd,s);} else if(typeof jQuery !==’undefined’)jQuery(d.body).trigger(‘pd-script-load’);}(document,’script’,’pd-polldaddy-loader’));