The costly and bitter race was also a close one.
The returns from 79 percent of the nation's precincts put Obama with 52.2 million votes at 49.5 percent. Romney had 51.7 million, 49 percent.
Obama won in the battleground states of Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, Virginia, New Hampshire, Colorado and Nevada.
Romney won North Carolina. Florida was too close to call, and Obama led with a narrow margin in a state where there were still long lines of voters at some polling places after the designated closing time.
Locally, Baton Rouge incumbent Kip Holden (Democrat) defeated challenger Councilman Mike Walker (Republican), Gordon Mese (No party) and "Steve" Myers (No party) in a landslide for the position of Mayor-President of the City of Baton Rouge.
This will be Holden's third term as Mayor-President.
Holden garnered most of the votes at 60 percent with Walker winning 34 percent, according to unofficial results from the Secretary of State's website.
Mese, who runs Garden District Nursery, finished in third place with 3 percent, and Myers, a lawyer and property manager, won 2 percent of the votes.
Holden, a Democrat, became the parish’s first black mayor-president when he defeated incumbent Bobby Simpson in 2004 with 54 percent of the vote.
Unofficial results from the Nov. 6 election:
Zachary Home Rule Charter amendment
Yes - 4,757
No - 2,648
*EBR, Baker and Central also voted for school board term limits for their school districts.*
Zachary School Board term limits
Yes - 7,796
No - 2,519
Parishwide mosquito control proposition
(Renew 10-year, 1.23-mill property tax)
YES 112,725
NO 58,114
(W) denotes unofficial winner
U. S. Representative, 6th Congressional, District 1
William "Bill" Cassidy - 79% (243,594) (W)
Rufus Holt Craig, Jr. - 10% (32,200(
Richard "RPT" Torregano - 10% (31,014)
Associate Justice Supreme Court, 5th Supreme Court
John Michael Guidry - 93,117 (W)
Toni Manning Higginbotham - 36,663
Jeff Hughes - 71,910 (2nd)
Tim E. Kelly - 10,395
William "Bill" Morvant - 36,117 (5th)
Mary Olive Pierson - 49,990 (3rd)
Jeffry Lamonte Sanford - 3,256
Jewel E. "Duke" Welch - 37,520 (4th)
Judge, Court of Appeal 1st Circuit, 2nd Dist., Subdist. 1, Div. B
Gideon T. Carter, III - 31% (47,512)
"Mike" McDonald - 49% (74,504) (W)
Trudy White - 20% (30,797)
PSC (Public Service Commissioner) District 2
Scott A. Angelle - 57% (213,322) (W)
Greg Gaubert - 11,728
Sarah Holliday -28,167
Erich Ponti - 43,256 (3rd)
Forest Wright 76,281 (2nd)
Constitutional Amendments (Statewide returns)
(The results below also reflect the winning amendment in EBR Parish.)
CA No. 1 (Medicaid trust fund)
Yes - 71%
No - 29%
CA. No. 2 (Gun rights)
Yes - 74%
No - 26%
CA. No. 3 (Public retirement systems notice)
Yes - 65%
No - 35%
CA. No. 4 (Tax relief for veterans’ spouses)
Yes - 74%
No - 26%
CA. No. 5 (Retirement benefits of convicted officials)
Yes - 70%
No - 30%
CA. No. 6 (Property tax exemptions in New Iberia)
Yes - 43%
No - 57%
CA. No. 7 (Membership on certain state boards)
Yes - 61%
No - 39%
CA. No. 8 (Property tax breaks for businesses)
Yes - 52%
No - 48%
CA. No. 9 (Bills to create crime prevention districts)
Yes - 56%
No - 44%


