After announcing in January that he wouldn’t seek election, state Sen. Royce Duplessis (D-New Orleans) has changed his mind and declared his candidacy for mayor.
Stephanie Grace, a columnist for The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate, joined Louisiana Considered to discuss how this could impact the race.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
BOB PAVLOVICH: Well, we got some unexpected news in the New Orleans mayor's race this week. Tell us about Royce Duplessis, the newest candidate to jump in.
STEPHANIE GRACE: Yeah, his announcement was a surprise because earlier this year, he said he would not run, but now he's back.
So for background, Royce Duplessis is a state senator. He represents the kind of Downtown-Central City area, but he grew up in Gentilly, so he's got roots in different parts of the city. He's a Democrat. He's considered an up-and-comer in Baton Rouge, focused on things like criminal justice. But again, he said earlier this year that he was having trouble raising money to run. So, the fact that his back suggests that that has changed. We don't know quite who's behind him financially, but he clearly hopes there's an opening.
PAVLOVICH: Okay, so is there?
GRACE: We'll see, you know, the field has seemed pretty set for a while now. City Council Vice President Helena Moreno's been leading all the polls, hovering around that 50% mark that would give her a win in the primary. Her council colleague, Oliver Thomas and former Judge Arthur Hunter have been trailing. They've been campaigning, but they haven't really shown signs of movement after many months.
PAVLOVICH: So, what's going on?
GRACE: So a couple things. One is that there's probably a group who are looking for a strong choice other than Moreno, so that it's a competitive race. There's some whispers you hear about her generally progressive policies, although frankly, to pluses and the others aren't really that far from her on that.
And you know, this being New Orleans, a majority-Black city, race is kind of hovering the background always to a greater or lesser extent. Duplessis, Thomas and Hunter are Black and Moreno is not, so that's kind of the background there. And you know, there are some people looking at this as a defensive move to guard against maybe a possible rise by Thomas. While he is popular, and he’s got very deep roots in city government, he also has a corruption conviction on his record.
PAVLOVICH: Well, we forget times that people do run in races to keep other people from winning, not necessarily to win themselves.
GRACE: And again, really unexpected things happen all the time in politics. So the fact that this has seemed very settled, it could be upended. Or not, we don't know.
PAVLOVICH: So what's the Duplessis pitch?
GRACE: So he's casting himself as an outsider, even though he is an official, but he is not a city official. And he says that the council in particular is part of what ails city government. You know, of course this council where Moreno has been a leader is often at odds with the Cantrell administration.So we'll see if that's a compelling message.
