Unexpected challengers qualify for incumbent seats in city elections

By Christopher Tidmore
Contributing Writer

There were some surprises in the candidates qualifying for the New Orleans municipal elections last week.

At the time that this newspaper went to press, Sheriff Marlin Gusman pulled a serious left-wing opponent in activist Susan Hutson. Though his campaign account amounts to a six-figure chasm over hers, she seeks to tap into the progressive enthusiasm that elected Jason Williams to the DAs office. Christopher Williams and Quentin R. Brown Jr. also qualified.

Austin Badon will not have a cakewalk into the open Clerk Criminal District Court seat. Darren Lombard wishes to reclaim it for his family, and Patricia Boyd-Robertson may also prove a serious contender. Council District B will see Jay Banks in a hard fight for re-election against neighborhood activist Lesli Harris and “Roz” Reed-Thibodeaux. The open District C and D seats will see a slew of candidates including Stephanie Bridges, Freddie King III, Vincent Milligan Jr., Stephen Mosgrove, “Frank” Perez, and Barbara Waiters in the former, as well as Chantrisse Burnett, Anthony Doby, Troy Glover, Eugene Green, Kevin Griffin-Clark, Mark “Johari” Lawes, Mariah Moore, Robert “Bob” Murray, Keith “KP” Parker, Timolynn “Tim” Sams, Dulaine Troy Vining, and Kourtney Youngblood in the latter.

Cyndi Nguyen may constitute the most endangered incumbent in District E. As expected, Oliver Thomas seeks a return to the City Council. John Bagneris, Vanessa Gueringer and Aaron Miller also desire the office.

The councilmember-at-Large Division 2 race seems pretty set with district council members Kristin Gisleson Palmer and Jared Brossett facing off against former state Senator JP Morrell. However, Green Party member Bart Everson might make their appeals to left-wing voters in this very progressive city quite complicated.

This article originally published in the July 19, 2021 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.