A year from today New Orleans voters will have just completed electing a new mayor and council members.
Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025, will have been the runoff election date. Incumbent LaToya Cantrell is term limited so there will definitely be a mayor to-be preparing to take over by this week next year.
Also in the hunt will be candidates for the city council. For that there was a bit of a surprise during the past week from District A Councilmember Joe Giarrusso.
There are seven members to the New Orleans city council; five representing districts and two at large. Of the at-larges, incumbent Helena Moreno is running for mayor, so, win or lose, her council seat will be open. Giarrusso, who is regarded as a highly competent member of an unusually talented council, was regarded to be the most likely candidate for Moreno’s at-large seat, but last week he announced that while he will finish out his current term, he will not be running for anything. Instead, he is accepting a position in the private sector with the prestigious Phelps-Dunbar firm.
So, who will run for Moreno’s council position? It could be any other of the district council members, or any eligible citizen, though there is a unique quirk in the city’s at-large politics. There has long been the “unwritten rule” that one of the at-larges will be Black and the other White. This is not something that can be codified into law; no judge can enforce it, but it is just a tradition. Some say it is a very healthy practice showing racial sensitivity. When the back room talks begin for council races the “unwritten rule” has always been part of the conversation.
The other at-large council member, J.P. Morrell who, like Giarrusso, is highly regarded for his legislative finesse, was once assumed to be a mayoral candidate too, thereby leaving both at-large seats open, but Morrell has made it clear that he is not running for the top job. He will almost definitely hold on to his seat. So, the question is who will fill the unofficial, “so-called white seat?” The new candidate might have to come from outside the circle, perhaps a legislator, past council member, or an ambitious non-incumbent. Or, the rule can be broken. Council member Oliver Thomas once held the at-large job. If he doesn’t run for mayor he might be yearning for a return to the position.
Being one of the “at-larges” is especially important because the two rotate, on an annual basis, serving as president of the council, and therefore interim mayor when needed. The job is also regarded as a steppingstone. Of the eight mayors elected since the at-large position was created in 1954, three had held an at-large position. If Moreno wins the mayoral election, she will increase the number.
(Some people get uneasy, I know, when race is discussed in talking elections, but it is always a factor. Yet, I can’t think of any council issue of the last few years that was polarized by racial differences. To the contrary, this council has stood united on many tough questions, including facing off with Mayor LaToya Cantrell and her travel and lifestyle extravagances.)
There will come a day when race will not be a factor at all.
In another development dealing with an at-large council member, this time in Jefferson Parish, where the council structure is identical to New Orleans’, at-large member Scott Walker announced last week that he will run for parish president in 2027. (Incumbent Cynthia Lee Sheng will be term limited.)
Imagine this: Walker got his start locally be being a news anchor/reporter for WDSU TV, Ch. 6. Moreno also first became known as a news person for the same station. So, it is possible that if both Moreno and Walker win, by 2027, the two chief executives of neighboring parishes will have gotten their start by being TV news reporters.
That job path makes sense: TV favors news people having a good presence, to be articulate and to be civically aware.
On the night of the election next year there might even be a young reporter in the crowd who is excited by what she sees and thinking of one day launching her own campaign.
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