Moreno victory!

By Christopher Tidmore
Contributing Writer

Nearly four months ago, this newspaper posed the question of whether Royce Duplessis could replicate the coalition that allowed him to best Democratic Rep. Mandie Landry in 2022. Would the state senator be able to build a biracial coalition of African-American Democrats as well as white Republicans and Independents to outflank a prominent Caucasian challenger?

His Senate district, which has more than 75,000 registered voters in Orleans Parish, is a good microcosm of the city – 48 percent are Black, 40 percent are Caucasian and nine percent other. In fact, it’s a bit worse than the City of New Orleans for an African-American contender, which is 55 and 34 percent Black and white respectively. That Duplessis could carry a gentrified district, which under traditional political rules should have given a preference to a liberal white contender, spoke well of his chances in a citywide runoff.

In the end, the answer was no. Helena Moreno seat versus his 20 percent. He only won one precinct of District 5 by over 50 percent in his mayoral bid. Her totals in the senatorial district are pretty closely tracked with her 55 percent victory citywide.

That is not to say that Duplessis did not perform quite well for a candidate who jumped into the mayoral race just over three months before election day and ended up outspent 5-1. At 22 percent, Duplessis did win a plurality in the neighborhoods where he grew up – Pontchartrain Park and throughout Gentilly. He also did well in several Central City neighborhoods and prevailed in a few precincts in New Orleans East, though Oliver Thomas tended to match or edge past Duplessis narrowly in both overall.

Essentially, Duplessis’ campaign might have replicated its previous success against a very similar candidate to Moreno, Rep. Mandie Landry, if an additional 12 percent of the city’s voters – i.e. registered Republicans – had universally backed his bid for mayor, as they had in his previous election. Mostly, they did not. Unlike Landry, Moreno won the majority of the GOP vote. The city councilperson appeared a more compelling moderate than Rep. Landry had. The conservative Caucasian remainder tended to support the Republican candidate Frank Janusa.

By 8 p.m. on October 11, Moreno had won the open mayor’s race outright with 57,797 votes (55.0 percent), defeating Duplessis, who finished second with 23,474 (22.4 percent). Councilman Thomas placed third with 19,619 (18.7 percent), followed by Frank Janusa, Ricky Twiggs and several other candidates.

The trend for outright victories continued in races for Orleans Parish sheriff, assessor, and council at-large. Former interim NOPD Superintendent Michelle Woodfork secured the sheriff’s office with 54,019 votes (52.9 percent). Edwin Shorty Jr. finished second with 21,199 (20.8 percent), while incumbent Susan Hutson received 17,469 (17.1 percent).

Incumbent Erroll Williams was re-elected as assessor with 61,631 votes (61.3 percent), defeating Casius Pealer III with 28,256 (28.1 percent) and Jay Schmitt Jr. with 8,422 (8.4 percent).

In the New Orleans City Council race, State Rep. Matthew Willard won the at-large, Division 1 seat with 58,903 votes (59.3 percent), defeating Delisha Boyd with 30,957 votes (31.2 percent) and Matt Hill with 9,388 votes (9.5 percent). The at-large, Division 2 incumbent J.P. Morrell retained his seat with 65,198 votes (65.8 percent), defeating challengers Gregory Manning with 23,305 votes (23.5 percent) and Kenneth Cutno with 10,618 votes (10.7 percent).

Likewise, District C Councilman Freddie King III was re-elected with 12,195 votes (63.8 percent), defeating Kelsey Foster with 5,715 votes (29.9 percent), Jackson Kimbrell with 757 votes (4.0 percent) and Eliot Barron with 454 votes (2.4 percent). In District D, Eugene Green won a second term with 14,872 votes (66.9 percent), topping Belden Batiste with 4,609 votes (20.7 percent) and Leilani Heno with 2,748 votes (12.4 percent).

A surprising runoff did occur in Orleans Clerk of Criminal District Court where Calvin Duncan led with 46,259 votes (47.0 percent), narrowly edging ahead of incumbent Darren Lombard, who had 45,587 (46.4 percent). Valencia Miles received 6,490 (6.6 percent). Duncan and Lombard are headed to a runoff election scheduled for Nov. 15, as well the two remaining city council races yet to be decided.

In District A, Holly Friedman led the crowded contest with 8,589 votes (38.7 percent), followed by Aimee McCarron with 7,170 (32.3 percent) and Bob Murrell with 3,002 (13.5 percent). Because no candidate received a majority, Friedman and McCarron will advance to a runoff. So it also is in District E where former council member Cyndi Nguyen led with 8,709 votes (45.7 percent), followed by state Rep. Jason Hughes with 6,910 votes (36.2 percent). They too will face each other in a runoff election on Nov. 15.

This article originally published in the October 20, 2025 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.