Michelle Woodfork elected as Orleans Parish Sheriff

NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — Election Day has ended, and there is a new sheriff for Orleans Parish after Michelle Woodfork defeated incumbent Sheriff Susan Hutson.

Woodfork earned more than 50% of the vote.

At her election party, Woodfork was at Sweet Lorraine’s Jazz Club with a number of officials and supporters.

Woodfork, a Democrat, ran a campaign based on immediate accountability, increasing deputy recruitment, improving jail conditions, and focusing on rehabilitation, reunification and successful re-entry.

After working as a Sheriff’s Deputy with the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office, Woodfork is a 31-year veteran of the force who first joined the NOPD in 1991. She began as a patrol officer in the seventh district and then went on to hold various roles across five districts.

After Chief Shaun Ferguson retired, Woodfork took over leadership. According to Woodfork, under her leadership, violent crime dropped, murders declined and carjackings plummeted.

Following her retirement in 2023, Woodfork joined District Attorney Jason Williams’ team as the Forensic & Intelligence Investigations Director.

At the podium, Woodfork thanked her team and all the voters who believed in her.

In the next six months, she plans to start forming her team. She says she promises to be a sheriff that the people can not only be proud of but that they can count on. That means making sure inmates leave a better person than the one they came in as. This would mean focusing on mental health programs, substance abuse treatment, education and job training for the inmates. This will be done through increased recruitment, investing in technology to ensure OPSO is operated in a safe and secure jail. One where the deputies and those housed there are safe. In the next few months, she plans to make her rounds to other jails to learn.

District Attorney Jason Williams emphasized Woodfork was the best person for the job.

“The job for police chief is much harder than the job of sheriff. It’s a bigger budget, it’s more people, and it’s more work. If she can do that job, if she can pull us out of being the murder capital of the country in a very short period of time, she can absolutely pull the Sheriff’s office out where it is right now. Also, get us out of that consent decree by maintaining care, custody, and consent. She’s an amazing partner; she has no ego. She’s on a mission, and she’s a fighter. She comes from a family of lawmen. I think the people in the city know, like, look, you can get Michelle Woodfork to learn to do this work, that’s who you go with,” said District Attorney Williams.

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