LaToya Cantrell: New Orleans elects first woman mayor in 300-year history

'This has been the people’s campaign from day one'

Rachael Revesz
Sunday 19 November 2017 15:50 GMT
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Ms Cantrell said her campaign was not about 'self' - it was about everyone
Ms Cantrell said her campaign was not about 'self' - it was about everyone

New Orleans has gained its first woman mayor after voters chose LaToya Cantrell in an historic state election.

Ms Cantrell, a former city council member who worked hard to help her neighbourhood after Hurricane Katrina hit in 2010, will replace fellow Democrat mayor Mitch Landrieu.

In her victory speech, Ms Cantrell mentioned the city’s 300th anniversary and how New Orleans was "still making history".

She won 60 per cent of the vote versus her opponent, former municipal Judge Desiree Charbonnet.

“We’re focused on the future of New Orleans,” Ms Cantrell told a cheering crowd at the city’s Jazz Market. “Where everyone matters. This has been the people’s campaign from day one.”

Despite her success in tourism and economic development, Ms Cantrell still faces significant issues such as crime and problems within the agency overseeing the drinking water system and storm drainage.

During the campaign she faced allegations that she had misused a city-issued credit card for thousands of dollars worth of purchases that were not clearly for public purposes.

The money has been reimbursed.

Ms Cantrell’s victory comes amid a sweep of Democratic and progressive candidates being elected to office across the country as part of what many describe as a backlash against Donald Trump.

Recent victories include that of Danica Roem in Virginia, the first transgender woman to sit in the state’s General Assembly. She beat Republican Bob Marshall, who introduced the bathroom bill.

Also in Virginia, Chris Hurst, the former boyfriend of a woman who was shot dead at work and who proposed strong gun controls, beat Joseph Yost, who was a member of the National Rifle Association.

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