Lewis announces reelection bid for alderwoman
Melanie Lewis
Ruston Alderwoman Melanie Lewis has announced her candidacy for reelection this fall.
Lewis, who represents Ward 3, is seeking her first four-year term. Qualifying for the Nov. 8 primary is in July.
Ward 3 lies east of U.S. Hwy. 167 and north of Maryland and East Georgia avenues.
Lewis is a retired educator and a Republican. She was named to the Board of Aldermen in July 2021 to serve out her husband’s unexpired term. Jedd Lewis resigned earlier that month with slightly more than 17 months remaining in the term. He had been on the board since 2003.
Melanie Lewis’ appointment made the five-person board majority female for the first time.
“I am proud and honored to have been appointed to the Board of Aldermen to fill the remainder of my husband’s term. It was a position that meant a great deal to him,” Lewis said. “During my time on the board, I have found that the mayor and fellow aldermen represent the people with open minds in a very honest, well run, financially strong city government.”
Lewis said she wants to see to completion projects that are underway in her district including the expansion of East Kentucky Avenue and continued development along the Hwy. 33 corridor.
She said she also wants to work together with other aldermen on projects not in her district but which she said would have citywide benefits. Among them: Installation of streetlights on the new Tarbutton Road interchange and extending the Rock Island Greenway north of Cook Park to Jefferson Avenue.
“I believe as aldermen we truly serve all of Ruston and will gladly try to help with all questions or suggestions, whether or not they are specific to our individual districts,” Lewis said.
Originally from Shreveport, Lewis has lived in Ruston since 1984. She’s taught at Simsboro School, A. E. Phillips, Ruston High and I. A. Lewis.
In 2013, she was named instructional facilitator at I. A. Lewis, continuing in that position until her retirement in 2021. Lewis remains on the school’s schoolwide planning team.
The Lewises are parents of three sons, all of whom are Ruston High School graduates, and grandparents of one, with a second grandchild on the way. The Lewises are members of Trinity United Methodist Church where Melanie Lewis was a longtime Sunday School teacher, as well as volunteer in other areas of congregational life.
