On July 1st, Lake Charles will have a new mayor, as Marshall Simien unseated two-term incumbent Nic Hunter over the weekend. Mayor-elect Simien says it was a hard-fought campaign, but Mayor Hunter was very gracious in defeat.
“He always understood that I wasn’t running against him personally. It was really running for the position of Mayor. And so, he said that he would work with me to make the transition smooth, make sure that nothing was being decided without my input,” Simien said.
In all hard-fought political campaigns, one of the first jobs after an election is to bring people together. Simien says this is no different.
“So those that voted for me, I’m going to work as hard as I can to make sure their confidence was well-placed. For those who didn’t vote for me or didn’t vote at all, we are all one Lake Charles, and there’s plenty of room in this tent for everybody,” Simien said.
Simien will begin his four-year term on July 1st, and one of his top priorities is to lead Lake Charles in a period of tremendous growth.
“We’re getting prepared for an economic boom. But the thing is, how do you manage that to make sure that you can grow as a city, but also weather some of the growing pains that come with it and make sure that people come in and they contribute to the society and find Lake Charles to be a good place and want to stay here,” Simien said.
Economist Loren Scott’s economic forecast has Lake Charles as the fastest growing area in the state, adding about 81-hundred jobs in 2025 and 2026. The increase in jobs is related to a growth in the energy sector.
Simien will be the first Black mayor in Lake Charles’ history.
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