Changes

|term_start=January 1992

|term_start=January 1992

|term_end=August 1, 2000

|term_end=August 1, 2000

|preceded=Kenneth Volentine

|preceded=[[Kenneth Volentine]]

|succeeded=Rick Gallot

|succeeded=Rick Gallot

|birth_date=February 8, 1948

|birth_date=February 8, 1948

==Politics and elections==

==Politics and elections==

Wilkerson won her House seat on the same day that [[Edwin Edwards]] returned to the Louisiana governorship for his fourth term in a ringing [[general election]] defeat of State Representative [[David Duke]], a former member of the [[Ku Klux Klan]]. Wilkerson defeated the white one-term incumbent, state Representative Kenneth L. Volentine of Athens in Claiborne Parish. who had led in the first nonpartisan blanket [[primary]]. Volentine polled 6,150 (46.9 percent) to Wilkerson’s 4,358 (33.2 percent). Two other candidates held the remaining 20 percent of the vote.<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, October 19, 1991.</ref> In the [[general election]] held on November 16, 1991, Wilkerson unseated Volentine, 8,590 (51.8 percent) to 7,992 (48.2 percent).<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, November 16, 1991.</ref>

Wilkerson won her House seat on the same day that [[Edwin Edwards]] returned to the Louisiana governorship for his fourth term in a ringing [[general election]] defeat of State Representative [[David Duke]], a former member of the [[Ku Klux Klan]]. Wilkerson defeated the white one-term incumbent, state Representative [[Kenneth Volentine]] of Athens in Claiborne Parish. who had led in the first nonpartisan blanket [[primary]]. Volentine polled 6,150 (46.9 percent) to Wilkerson’s 4,358 (33.2 percent). Two other candidates held the remaining 20 percent of the vote.<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, October 19, 1991.</ref> In the [[general election]] held on November 16, 1991, Wilkerson unseated Volentine, 8,590 (51.8 percent) to 7,992 (48.2 percent).<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, November 16, 1991.</ref>

In 1995, Wilkerson won a second term by defeating fellow African American Willie J. Young, 70-30 percent.<ref name=election>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, October 21, 1995.</ref> In that same election, her 1991 rival, Kenneth Volentine, was handily elected to the first of two terms as the Claiborne Parish [[sheriff]] of Claiborne Parish.<ref name=election/> In 1999, she defeated fellow Democrat Douglas R. Sapp, 80-20 percent, in a low-turnout election.<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, October 23, 1999.</ref>

In 1995, Wilkerson won a second term by defeating fellow African American Willie J. Young, 70-30 percent.<ref name=election>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, October 21, 1995.</ref> In that same election, her 1991 rival, Kenneth Volentine, was handily elected to the first of two terms as the Claiborne Parish [[sheriff]] of Claiborne Parish.<ref name=election/> In 1999, she defeated fellow Democrat Douglas R. Sapp, 80-20 percent, in a low-turnout election.<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, October 23, 1999.</ref>