Robert W. "Bo" Williams

Who is Robert W. "Bo" Williams?

Robert Warren Williams, known as Bo Williams, is a Republican former mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana, having served a single term from 1994 to 1998.

Williams defeated his fellow city council member, Democrat Roy Cary, an African-American, 38,596 votes to 27,018. Eliminated in the nonpartisan blanket primary was the Democratic former Mayor John Brennan Hussey.

In 1990, Williams was elected to a single term on the Shreveport City Council from District E. He received, 6,293 votes to Democrat John L. Albritton's 5,503 ballots. He left the council after one term to become mayor.

Williams was physically impaired as mayor. He used a wheelchair as a result of an accident several years earlier and had limited upper-body movement. Former Mayor James C. Gardner in his memoirs entitled Jim Gardner and Shreveport, Vol. II, describes Williams as follows:

I came to realize that most Shreveporters did not comprehend the physical limitations of the mayor. This was to handicap him politically as he could not be as physically visible as the citizens were accustomed . ... and this was sometimes interpreted as lack of activity. ...