For decades now, people of all kinds have voted their interests based on quality-of-life satisfaction or dissatisfaction, the quality of city services or the lack thereof, too many streets with too many potholes and inconvenient construction projects that actually lead to progress. And sometimes, yes, sometimes, they vote based on what someone said.
They’ve also voted for people like themselves.
It seems there’s nothing wrong with White people supporting a White candidate, but it seems some think it’s a bad thing — or racist — when Black people support Black candidates.
In the race for New Orleans mayor, most serious New Orleans voters are listening to state Sen. Royce Duplessis, City Council Vice President Helena Moreno and City Council District E member Oliver Thomas as candidates most likely to replace Mayor LaToya Cantrell.
Each is qualified.
One is White. Two are Black.
And, yes, race matters. So do endorsements.
That’s why in this predominantly Black city you’ve seen more Black elected officials and former elected officials weighing in than White elected officials and former elected officials. That’s why you’ve seen Black ministers, pastors and other faith leaders weighing in. That’s why you’ve seen Black community, grassroots and political groups weighing in.
Social media influencers play more of a role these days, but some like to hear from people they know.
Depending on which public poll you look at, mayoral front-runner City Council Vice President Helena Moreno has been leading by double digits — and many expect her to win without a runoff once the votes are tallied Saturday night. With 70% to 75% of the White vote lined up, that’s puts her close to getting the 50% plus one vote she needs.
But it’s not enough.
Black voters matter.
With Duplessis, Moreno and Thomas essentially splitting the Black vote equally during recent polling, it’s clear that Black folks who voted in bigger numbers during early voting this campaign season than they did during the 2017 campaign early voting period will likely decide this race along with undecided Black voters who haven’t yet cast their ballots. White voters cast just shy of 5,000 votes during the 2017 early voting stretch and 14,000 votes this year. In 2017, the Black early vote count was almost 11,000. This year it was more than 22,000.
Old-line Black political organizations had decided that former Judge Arthur Hunter was the best person to lead New Orleans as mayor. The Southern Organization for United Leadership (SOUL), the Community Organization for Unified Politics (COUP) and the Treme Improvement Political Society (TIPS) quickly backed Hunter. But Hunter’s campaign never caught fire. Not enough charisma, some of his biggest supporters told me recently. When he dropped out and endorsed Duplessis, so did SOUL, COUP and TIMS. Duplessis gained support from former Mayor Sydney Barthelemy and retired Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Bernette Joshua Johnson. Recently, he gained support from U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields, too.
That’s good Black support.
Thomas has the support of some teachers, unions and grassroots organizations, but he doesn’t have big-name Black support. That’s OK, he said; his political success has come without those groups and from community people.
Three Black news publications in New Orleans have different ideas about the future of the city. The Data News Weekly endorsed Moreno. The Louisiana Weekly endorsed Duplessis. The New Orleans Tribune endorsed Thomas.
While much of the White community has coalesced behind Moreno with some Black support, a lot of Black people strongly committed to Black causes, Black concerns and Black efforts want a mayor who looks like them, someone who is from their community and someone who they feel can relate to them — just as White people do.
While so many White people easily found their way to Moreno, a lot of Black people have listened to the candidates, believe each is qualified, and they have decided to choose between two qualified Black men. Why not Duplessis or Thomas?
The City Council at-large, sheriff and clerk races each have front-runners, but those races are largely undecided because so many White people haven’t decided which Black candidates are worthy of their votes. I’m certain that wouldn’t be the case if there were viable White candidates running at-large, for sheriff and for clerk.
Richmond said “we can’t get it wrong.” When I met with Don Hubbard, founder and chairman of SOUL; Constable Lambert Boissiere Jr. of COUP and former state Rep. Louis Charbonnet of TIPS recently, they agreed. But they think Duplessis is that guy. These old-line Black pols see Duplessis as the next generation coming behind them.
As we head into the final days of this campaign and learn election results on Saturday night, Black voters will continue to have heated, mostly civil debates about which Black man should be mayor — and most will give Black Moreno supporters respect if they’ve considered the Black candidates and decided to vote for her.