A press release titled “DA Stewart announces re-election big to packed house” was received by yours truly on Thursday of last week by email at 7:48 p.m. The Caddo courthouse was closed on that day and thus the DA’s office was not officially open.
 
This presser is attached below with the picture.
 
The sender of the presser is JPrime@caddoda.com. The first line reads “For more information, call John Andrew Prime at (318) 617-5958 or Ivy Woodard at (318) 422-1623, or call the Caddo Parish District Attorney’s Office at (318) 226-6955.”
 
The press release has the letterhead of the Caddo Parish District Attorney with Stewart’s headshot.
 
Prime is an independent contractor for DA Stewart. The phone number listed is his cell phone number.
 
Woodward is an employee of the Caddo DA’s office, and she handles public relations for the office. The phone number listed is her cell phone number.
 
It is NOT known if Prime is paid from the DA’s bank account or from his campaign funds.
 
It is NOT known if calls to Woodward on her cell phone concerning Stewart’s re-election campaign would be answered during normal business hours when she is on the DA office payroll.
 
It is NOT known who sent out the press release. Prime sends his copy to the DA’s office. He does NOT issue the press release which apparently was issued by Woodward or someone at the DA’s office.
 
What is known is that the use of public dollars for public election campaigns is generally considered to be a violation of campaign ethics.
 
Stewart is reportedly going to be a guest on the Mike and McCarty KEEL 710 Radio show tomorrow (Tues.) at 8:10 a.m. Maybe Erin will ask James about the press release.

DA Stewart announces re-election bid to packed house

 
Incumbent Caddo Parish District Attorney James E. Stewart Sr. announced his bid for re-election Thursday, January 29, 2026, in the Norma Blake Community Center at Mount Canaan Baptist Church in Shreveport's Ledbetter Heights neighborhood.
 
The event was well-attended, with a full house of fellow elected officials, members of area legal and religious communities and the public, despite lingering winter freeze and coinciding with the Washington Mardi Gras.
 
"James Stewart is tough on violent crime, always has been," retired Louisiana Supreme Court Justice Scott Crichton, DA Stewart's friend of five decades, said in introduction.
 
But he noted that as DA, Stewart has always known how to balance the need to fight crime with the necessity of being fair and when needed, goodness and mercy. "James Stewart has set the standard state-wide. He's done more with less resources. He's earned the right for re-election.... He has been an excellent district attorney. He needs to be re-elected."
 
Stewart, married, the father of seven children and grandfather to five, was first elected to the DA's office in 2025, to finish the term of predecessor Charles Rex Scott, who died in office. If re-elected, Stewart will be sworn in to a six-year term in January 2027. The election will be November 3, 2026.
 
"I like to work, I like to do my job," he started off, soon moving into his campaign motto and slogan, "fighting for justice every day. That is what we do -- we fight the good fight every day, in and out."
 
He said is job is to represent the victims of crime and their families.
 
"We're their voice. In order to do that, we have to prosecute some people and we have to have them go to jail. That is what we do.
 
"But at the same time, we are going to use discretion and spiritual discernment to have mercy on those who need that mercy."
 
To that end, he said, his office will continue to use diversion programs and alternatives to incarceration.
 
"If you hear anybody who says the solution to crime is to lock up everybody, you need to run from them," he said.
 
He noted that Caddo Parish is blessed with good servants in law enforcement, noting Caddo Parish Sheriff Henry Whitehorn Sr. and Shreveport City Marshal James Jefferson, among others.
 
"I can't do anything about what is happening in Washington, D.C., but I can tell you that this community is blessed to have some very experienced people who work together for the good of the public," he said, exhorting the crowd to remember the election cycle that led to Henry Whitehorn becoming sheriff. "Don't vent, vote!"