Thirty-year-old progressive policy advocate Davante Lewis unseated three term Public Service Commissioner Lambert Boissiere in a Saturday runoff election for the District Three Public Service Commission seat. Lewis is the first openly LGBTQ person to win elective office in Louisiana, but he does not think his sexual orientation was as a factor in the race.
“It is an historic moment. I will bring those experiences and values to the commission but I think what really got people motivated was our commitment to the issues that really affect them,” Lewis said.
Lewis, of Baton Rouge, said anger about high utility bills and a desire for more renewable energy helped him. He won with 59% of the vote. The 57-year-old Boissiere, of New Orleans, was supported by prominent Democrats including Congressman Troy Carter and Governor John Bel Edwards.
The race received national attention. Lewis was supported by powerful national environmental groups who mounted a massive grassroots campaign and poured money into the race.
Lewis said his first priority will be to try to reinstate a rule the PSC repealed in 2018 allowing net metering for solar power. He says net metering credits solar panel owners for the electricity they add to the grid.
“If I produce more power than what I’m actually using for my solar panel you would give me a credit back,” Lewis explained.
Lewis said only two percent of the energy used in Louisiana comes from renewable sources.
“We are starting to talk about that transition, Investing in community solar, looking at hydrogen and wind, building wind farms to power the grid,” he said
Lewis’s election doesn’t change the commission’s political ratio. There are still three Republicans and two Democrats.
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