C. Denise Marcelle

{{short description|American politician from Louisiana}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Clara Denise Marcelle | office = Member of the [[Louisiana House of Representatives]] from the [[Louisiana's 61st House of Representatives district|61st district]] | term_start = January 11, 2016 | term_end = | preceded = [[Alfred C. Williams]] | succeeded = Incumbent | birth_date = | birth_place = [[Baton Rouge, Louisiana|Baton Rouge]], [[Louisiana]], US | occupation = Outreach coordinator | party= [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] | alma_mater= Capitol Senior High School<br/>[[Southern University]] }} '''Clara Denise Marcelle''' is a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] member of the [[Louisiana House of Representatives]] for District 61 in [[East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana|East Baton Rouge Parish]], [[Louisiana]]. She succeeded her fellow Democrat [[Alfred C. Williams]], who died in office on August 4, 2015.

In the [[Partisan primary|primary election]] held on October 24, 2015, Marcelle won the right to succeed Williams by defeating a single opponent, her fellow Democrat Donna Collins-Lewis, 4,971 votes (60.6 percent) to 3,237 (39.4 percent).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://staticresults.sos.la.gov/10242015/10242015_Legislative.html|title=Results for Election Date: 10/24/2015|publisher=Louisiana Secretary of State|accessdate=October 27, 2015}}</ref>

Marcelle and the late State Representative [[Ronnie Edwards (politician)|Ronnie Edwards]] of District 29 both served on the Baton Rouge Metro-Council prior to their elections in 2015 to the state House. Edwards died in early 2016 of [[pancreatic cancer]] less than two months after taking office.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://theadvocate.com/news/acadiana/14982567-123/state-rep-ronnie-edwards-dies-after-two-year-battle-with-pancreatic-cancer|title='Gentle and kind' Louisiana state Rep. Ronnie Edwards dies after 2-year battle with cancer|date=February 24, 2016|newspaper=[[The Advocate (Louisiana)|The Baton Rouge Advocate]]|author=Rebekah Allen|accessdate=March 7, 2016|archive-date=March 11, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311122941/http://theadvocate.com/news/acadiana/14982567-123/state-rep-ronnie-edwards-dies-after-two-year-battle-with-pancreatic-cancer|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[2016 Baton Rouge mayoral election|In 2016]], she unsuccessfully ran to be mayor-president of Baton Rouge and the East Baton Rouge Parish.

She is an alumnus of [[Capitol High School (Louisiana)|Capitol High School]] in Baton Rouge.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://capitolhighbr.org/five-reasons-why-we-love-our-pride/ | title=Five Reasons Why We Love Our Pride | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230427205220/https://capitolhighbr.org/five-reasons-why-we-love-our-pride/ | archive-date=2023-04-27 }}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

{{s-start}} {{s-par|us-la-hs}} {{succession box | before=[[Alfred C. Williams]] | title=[[Louisiana House of Representatives|Louisiana State Representative]] from the [[Louisiana's 61st House of Representatives district|61st district]] | years=2016 – | after=Incumbent}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marcelle, C. Denise}} [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Politicians from Baton Rouge, Louisiana]] [[Category:Democratic Party members of the Louisiana House of Representatives]] [[Category:21st-century members of the Louisiana State Legislature]] [[Category:Women state legislators in Louisiana]] [[Category:Women in Louisiana politics]] [[Category:African-American state legislators in Louisiana]] [[Category:Activists for African-American civil rights]] [[Category:Southern University alumni]] [[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]] [[Category:21st-century American women politicians]] [[Category:21st-century African-American women politicians]] [[Category:21st-century African-American politicians]]