Hazel Beard

Who is Hazel Beard?

Hazel Fain Beard is the first woman and the first Republican to have served as mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana, since the era of Reconstruction. A fiscal conservative, Mrs. Beard grappled with many economic and social problems during her single term as mayor from 1990 to 1994.

Prior to her mayoralty service, Beard was a small business owner and a member of the Shreveport City Council from the southwest portion of the city. She was the first woman to have been chairperson of the city council.

Beard entered the mayoral race against three serious opponents, including the African-American dentist C. O. Simpkins, a Democrat, and two fellow council members, Republican Carolyn Calhoun Whitehurst and Democrat Bill Bush. Simpkins was a veteran of the civil rights movement. Bush, a businessman, led in the pre-election polls. Whitehurst, a real estate operator, later Carolyn C. Huckaby, is descended from a prominent De Soto Parish family: her father, Reimer Calhoun, was a Democratic member of the Louisiana State Senate from 1944-1952. Whitehurst, who represented a southeast Shreveport council district, had the support of the Shreveport Times.

Simpkins led in the primary, but Beard secured the second slot to proceed to the general election. She then prevailed, 38,604 votes to Simpkins' 26,341.