Early voting starts Tuesday, Oct. 20, and Iberville Parish voters will choose a new judge for the 18th Judicial District Court's Division C seat.

The seat opened when Judge Alvin Batiste Jr. retired in January after 23 years on the bench. Three candidates qualified in August: Alycia Grace-O'Bear, Lori White and Victor Woods Jr. All three are Democrats, and all three have worked in the 18th JDC for years.

The WBR Independent sat down with each candidate and asked the same core questions. Here is what they said.

Why this matters outside Iberville

Only Iberville voters will see this race on their ballot. It falls under Election Subdivision 1.

But the judge who wins will hear cases across the district. White explained how the 18th JDC splits the work among its four judges.

"I would do criminal court in Iberville Parish," White said. "In addition to that, I would go to West Baton Rouge in Port Allen and Pointe Coupee in New Roads to do civil court."

That means West Baton Rouge residents with civil cases could end up in front of whoever wins.

Alycia Grace-O'Bear

Grace-O'Bear is a law professor at Southern University Law Center, where she teaches courses and works with the school's clinical education program. She was born and raised in Sunshine and said she has spent about 27 years practicing law.

She served as an assistant district attorney in the 18th JDC under former DA Ricky Ward. She also spent about 12 years as an administrative law judge for the state, hearing disputes between citizens and state agencies, and served as presiding judge of the Louisiana Ethics Adjudicatory Board.

"The question is always, what can I do versus what do I want to complain about?" she said. "I want to be part of the solution and not the problem."

Grace-O'Bear said she wants the court to be easier for regular people to understand. As a former judicial staff attorney, she said about half the calls the office received came from people trying to understand a ruling.

"If you are facing certain consequences, be they criminal or civil, and a decision is made, you're going to know why that decision has been made," she said.

She also said court filing fees have roughly tripled since she started practicing and should get a closer look.

"It shouldn't cost a person the opportunity to be heard," she said.

Her campaign slogan is "fair, firm and forthright." She said firm means standing by her rulings, and forthright means "there'll be no games."

She said she would put personal time into community programs that keep young people out of the court system in the first place, outside of her duties as judge.

In a follow-up call Monday, Grace-O'Bear, a lifelong Iberville Parish resident, said the hardest part of being a district judge is making sure decisions serve the community as a whole.

"That requires competence and independent thinking, because you can't be swayed by the thoughts of a few," she said.

Asked what someone who has never been to court should know about her, she said she would make decisions "based on fact and law, not based on personal preference or political power."

Lori White

White lives in Plaquemine and is a two-time graduate of Southern University. She earned her law degree in 2001 and was admitted to practice in 2002.

She currently works in the 18th JDC District Attorney's Office under DA Tony Clayton as the victim's assistance coordinator. She said she has been in the DA's office for almost seven years and has also served as one of Clayton's assistant district attorneys. Before that, she worked 17 years in the judge's office in West Baton Rouge, starting as a judicial law clerk and then serving as judicial staff attorney.

White said she has wanted to be a judge since her first day of law school. She said she chose Division C because it is the only open seat.

"I would never run against an incumbent," she said.

White said she doesn't believe judges should campaign on a platform.

"Judges take facts. You take facts, you take circumstance, you apply the law to it and you make decisions," she said. "That's not a platform."

She said her interests include juvenile crime and making sure people with mental health issues or addictions get help instead of jail time when the law allows it. She said she would want to observe the court from the inside before deciding what needs to change.

"I just want to be the people's judge," she said. "I have compassion, but I'm very strong."

Victor Woods Jr.

Woods grew up in Brusly and attended Brusly schools. His mother is from Plaquemine. He said he has practiced law for 34 years as both a prosecutor and a defense attorney.

He served as an assistant district attorney in the 18th JDC from 1992 to 2002 and as Port Allen city attorney for 16 years. He has also represented the New Roads Housing Authority and the West Baton Rouge Parish Waterworks District No. 2.

Woods said he asked himself whether he had something more to give the district where he grew up.

"It would be an honor to serve as a judge in the jurisdiction, in an area that had so much influence on my life," he said.

Woods said he is not rushing to change anything and called Batiste "an excellent jurist."

"If it works, it works," he said.

He said he wants to start a volunteer student court, outside of his official duties, where young people resolve conflicts in front of their peers. He also said he supports expanding access to drug court.

Woods said accountability and rehabilitation "go hand in hand." He estimated that 85% to 90% of the crimes he has seen were drug-related.

"In order to rehabilitate somebody or to offer rehabilitation, they have to be accountable," he said.

Who's paying for the campaigns

The WBR Independent asked each candidate who is funding their campaign, then checked their answers against reports filed with the Louisiana Board of Ethics. The most recent reports, filed Oct. 5, cover money raised and spent through Sept. 24.

White has raised the most money, and a large share of her early money is tied to her boss, District Attorney Tony Clayton.

Asked who was funding her campaign, White said she had no hands-on role in the finances.

"I don't know anything about anything dealing with the finances of the actual campaign," she said. "That is controlled by my committee."

Asked how she would separate her working relationships from the bench if elected, especially with donors, she said, "Well, I don't know who the donors are, first of all." She added that personal relationships should not play a role in a judge's decisions.

Louisiana's Code of Judicial Conduct bars judicial candidates from personally soliciting or accepting contributions, which are handled by their campaign committees. The code does not prohibit candidates from knowing who their contributors are.

Her campaign's 2025 annual report lists $29,600 in contributions. Three of them, each for $6,000 and all dated Dec. 12, 2025, came from A.M. Tony Clayton, Attorney at Law; Friends of Tony Clayton, LLC; and a donor listed as Antonio Clayton. All three list the same address, 3741 La. Highway 1 South in Port Allen. Together they made up $18,000 of the $29,600 she raised that year.

Louisiana Secretary of State records list Paula H. Clayton as the member of Friends of Tony Clayton, LLC, with Tony Clayton as one of its registered agents.

White's 2026 report also lists a $500 in-kind contribution from Hun's Holdings, L.L.C., for use of a fundraiser venue on March 26. Secretary of State records list Antonio M. Clayton Sr. and Paula H. Clayton as the company's members, at the same Highway 1 South address.

White's reports show about $92,800 in total contributions, plus a $20,000 loan she made to her own campaign in October 2025. Many of her 2026 contributions came from attorneys and law firms. Her campaign has spent about $97,000, and reported $15,706.96 on hand as of Sept. 24.

The WBR Independent emailed White and Clayton on Monday afternoon with questions about the contributions and asked for a response by 5 p.m. Neither had responded at the time of publication. This story will be updated with any response.

Woods is largely paying for his own campaign.

"You will see when the campaign reports come out that we don't have a lot of donations," Woods said.

He said the campaign also relies on friends, family, volunteers and his own money. "We are running the best race we can with the limited resources we have," he said.

His reports back that up. His 2026 report shows $5,430 in contributions and $78,605.13 in loans from Woods himself. An earlier report shows he also loaned the campaign $11,374.18 in late 2025. He has spent $82,551.24 this year and reported $1,483.89 on hand.

Grace-O'Bear started raising money later than her opponents.

Grace-O'Bear said her campaign is funded by friends, family and grassroots donations. Asked about endorsements, she said she has none to share. "I want the voters' endorsement," she said.

Her report covers Aug. 4 through Sept. 24 and shows $9,200 from 21 donors, most giving $250 or less. She reported no loans and $5,833.05 on hand.

Neither Woods' nor Grace-O'Bear's reports list contributions from Clayton.

All three candidates' reports are available through the Louisiana Board of Ethics campaign finance search.

How they see each other

None of the three candidates criticized their opponents.

Woods said his campaign "is not about running against anyone." White called her opponents "wonderful people." Grace-O'Bear said she hadn't heard enough about her opponents' positions to know where they disagree.

When to vote

Early voting runs Tuesday, Oct. 20, through Tuesday, Oct. 27, from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, except Sunday, Oct. 25. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Division C appears only on ballots in Iberville Parish.

Interviews were conducted July 17 (Woods), Sept. 9 (White) and Sept. 11 (Grace-O'Bear), with a follow-up call to Grace-O'Bear on Oct. 19. Quotes have been lightly edited to remove verbal pauses.