Stutes beats Harson in the DA race

LAFAYETTE — Retired prosecutor Keith Stutes ousted longtime 15th Judicial District Attorney Mike Harson on Tuesday, ending a tenure of two decades for Harson that over the past two years has been plagued by a bribery scandal.

Stutes took the election with 58,829 votes, or 53 percent, to Harson’s 52,799, or 47 percent, overtaking the incumbent in his first election challenge since 1994.

“I don’t know if it was just the need to clean house or a need for change. I’m certain the scandal had some kind of effect on it, but there are other issues. I don’t know if I could single out a particular thing. It was a close race. I think it was just that people wanted something different, and I offered that: new and better,” Stutes said Tuesday night.

The 15th Judicial District takes in Lafayette, Vermilion and Acadia parishes, and Stutes’ victory was due largely to his popularity among Lafayette voters.

He won overwhelmingly in Lafayette Parish — the largest portion of the district — edged out Harson by a few hundred votes in Acadia and actually lost to Harson in Vermilion Parish.