LaToya Cantrell elected first female mayor of New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS — LaToya Cantrell, a City Council member who first gained a political following as she worked to help her hard-hit neighborhood recover from Hurricane Katrina, was elected the next mayor of New Orleans in a landslide victory.

The historic election made her the first woman mayor in the city's 300-year history.

"This win tonight is not for me nor my family. This win tonight is for the city of New Orleans. Yes! Absolutely!" Cantrell said as she addressed supporters at the New Orleans Jazz Market.

Cantrell defeated fellow Democrat Desiree Charbonnet with 60% of the vote in the two-person runoff to take the city's top elected spot after a monthlong campaign. Cantrell said she congratulated Charbonnet not only on her campaign but for making history with her because both runoff choices were women.

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A few miles away at the same time, Charbonnet delivered her concession speech.

"I truly do not regret one moment of anything about this campaign — resigning from my position, working every day and talking to people, touching our community and knowing exactly what the needs are. I am so proud to have been in that race," she said before congratulating Cantrell. "Listen, y'all. If she does well, we all do well."

Cantrell's victory was not a surprise, said Clancy DuBos, political columnist for Gambit Weekly.

"The only thing that remains to be seen is exactly what her margin (of victory) will be," he said.

Early results showed Cantrell winning neighborhoods in her home base of Broadmoor, parts of Uptown and Mid-City and New Orleans East.

DuBos said Cantrell's victory came amid anemic turnout among voters.

"It's not like a race ... where you had a 60% turnout pretty much everywhere," he said. "We're seeing turnouts that might be at or around 20% to some that are 35% or more."

The Louisiana Secretary of State's Office unofficially estimated turnout statewide at 12.5%/ Other issues were on the ballot, including a statewide vote for Louisiana treasurer, which Republican John Schroder won with 56% of the vote.

Last month about a third of the city's voters took part in the election. A little more than 85,000 voted Saturday, but it was not immediately clear how large the city's voter rolls were as of Saturday.

Based on early returns, Cantrell likely benefited from African-American voters, WWL-TV pollster Ron Faucheux said. Meanwhile, Charbonnet, a former Municipal Court judge, appeared to take the white vote by about 30%; both candidates are black women.

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"If that is the case, then Cantrell would ultimately win the race by at least a seven- or eight-point margin," Faucheux said early Saturday.

Cantrell and Charbonnet led a field of 18 candidates in an October general election to win runoff spots.

Faucheux said that Cantrell, who represented Council District B, added another first to the city's history books Saturday night. While voters have sent at-large council members to the mayor's office, never before has a district council member won the office.

Retired Judge Michael Bagneris of New Orleans Parish Civil District Court tossed his support behind Cantrell after the primary. Faucheux said the word of a third-place finisher usually doesn't carry much weight, but in this case it was more significant.

"His vote really was the swing vote, and I think denying that endorsement from Desiree Charbonnet really hurt her," Faucheux said.

DuBos added that Bagneris got a lot of support in the white community, in addition to the black community.

"His endorsement cut across all race lines and even age lines among his supporters."

Cantrell will face lingering problems even as New Orleans tourism has rebounded and blight has been reduced. Crime is one.

Another is dysfunction at the agency overseeing the city’s drinking water system and storm drainage — a problem that became evident during serious flash flooding in August.

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Katrina was a theme in the backstory of both candidates.

Cantrell moved to the city from California. Her work as a neighborhood activist in the aftermath of Katrina in the hard-hit Broadmoor neighborhood helped her win a seat on council in 2012.

Charbonnet, from a well-known political family in New Orleans, was the city’s elected recorder of mortgages before she was a judge. In the campaign she made a point of saying hers was the first city office to re-open after Katrina, providing critical property records to the displaced.

Voters also made history in a New Orleans City Council race.

Cyndi Nguyen defeated incumbent James Gray in an eastern New Orleans district. An immigrant who fled Vietnam with her family when she was 5 in 1975, Nguyen is the organizer of a nonprofit and will be the first Vietnamese-American to serve on the council.

Cantrell campaign consultant Karen Carvin Shachat said the campaign used old practices and new technology — such as social media — to engage younger voters.

"We had the best of both worlds," she said. 

This election cycle was moved up by several months, but the inauguration remained set for May. So current Mayor Mitch Landreau will remain in office for six months before Cantrell takes his seat.

Cantrell will use that time to set concrete plans for his first months in office, Shachat said.

"It's going to give her an opportunity to get it right," Shachat said. She added that Landrieu has agreed to cooperate with the transition.

"There's a lot of work to do," Shachat said.

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In addressing her supporters, Cantrell said that "no one will be left out" during her tenure.

"Today, tonight, it's about moving forward together," she said.

Contributing: The Associated Press. Follow Danny Monteverde on Twitter: @DCMonteverde