Two University students lost their bid for seats on the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Council during Saturday’s election.Brett Jackson, finance senior, ran for the District 12 seat on the Metro Council and lost to Jim Benham.Incumbent District 12 councilman Mickey Skyring did not run for re-election after his first term.Jackson received 22.63 percent of the vote, about 6 percent shy of Benham’s winning 28.90 percent. R.J. “Smokie” Bourgeois and Kimberly Watts received 24.63 percent and 23.84 percent of votes, respectively.Jackson said he was surprised to see the relative success he made during his first campaign into politics.”I was really excited at first because into the first two hours I was winning,” he sad. “I sweeped down to be about 100 votes out of the run off so it was still really exciting.”Jackson said he is considering going into politics again.”But not any time soon,” he said. “I need to focus on graduate school.About 9,200 people voted in the District 12 Metro Council election.Donald Hodge, political science graduate student, campaigned to gain a seat as the District 11 councilman but lost to Alison Cascio.Cascio received 42.31 percent of the vote compared to Hodge’s 18.34 percent. Candidates Scott Lemoine and Matt Watson received 32.33 percent and 7.02 percent of the votes, respectively.Hodge, who is a former Daily Reveille columnist, said he did not know what to expect when deciding to run for Metro Council.Hodge said he knew District 11 was predominantly Republican and he ran as a Democrat.”When the results came in, it wasn’t really shocking,” he said. “I did all I could, and I wasn’t disappointed. I did the best I could.”Hodge said he does not know if he’ll run for another governmental position.”I’ll never really know what the future holds, but if the opportunity presents itself, and I think I can make a difference in the position, I would certainly consider it,” he said. “But it’s not something I’m planning right now.”Hodge said he had a great time running and the campaign was an educational process.”Just getting out and seeing how the electoral process works was a really fun learning experience,” Hodge said.More than 9,100 people voted in the District 11 Metro Council election.Benham and Bourgeois will compete in a run-off Nov. 4 for the District 12 Metro Council seat. Cascio and Watson will also compete in a run-off Nov. 4 for the District 11 seat.Heath Hattaway, 2008 University alumnus, won his campaign for Lincoln Parish’s Ward 3 justice of the peace against 18-year incumbent Annette Murphy.Hattaway received 73.12 percent of the vote against Murphy’s 26.88 percent.Mayor-President Kip Holden will remain East Baton Rouge Parish’s top executive. Holden defeated competitors Wayne Carter, Ron Johnson and Dan Kyle with 71.18 percent of the vote.—-Contact J.J. Alcantara at [email protected]