Incumbent, Challenger Call for an End To Racial Divisiveness
By Peter Whoriskey
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, April 23, 2006
NEW ORLEANS, April 22 -- Mayor C. Ray Nagin and his most prominent rival, Lt Gov. Mitch Landrieu, won the most votes among 22 mayoral candidates Saturday, leading to a May 20 runoff that pits the mercurial black incumbent who led the city through Hurricane Katrina against the white scion of one of the state's most notable political families.
As a crowd chanted "Let's Go, Mitch!" at a downtown hotel here, Landrieu thanked his supporters and recalled the events of the deadly storm in a call for racial unity.
"Eight months ago, New Orleanians -- Americans each and every one -- suffered tremendous loss," he told the crowd. "Today we stand together before this great nation and proclaim that although we may be bent, we won't be broken."
Landrieu was the only candidate who drew significant percentages of both black and white voters, according to polls, and he called for pushing off the racial "forces of division" which have characterized post-hurricane politics here.
"We were in the same boat then," he said referring to the floodwaters that followed Katrina, "and we are in the same boat now."
Nagin similarly called for an end to the racial "bickering" in greeting his supporters late Saturday, and said that the rebuilding scheme his administration has created was a product of all the people.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have a plan -- it's your plan," he told the crowd amid cries of "four more years." "It's time to implement the plan. I am a doer. I am a pusher. I am a maverick. I cross the line occasionally, but I am you."
Nagin took the lion's share of votes on Saturday, capturing 38 percent with 94 percent of the precincts reporting.
"There have been too many people who have said we were dead," Nagin told supporters Saturday night. "But the people -- the people -- have said they like the direction we are going here."
Still, analysts said that the racial divisions that have broadened here since the hurricane likely will play a key role in determining the next mayor -- possibly damaging the Nagin's prospects and boosting Landrieu's.
Nagin has suffered with white voters, according to polls, winning as little as 5 percent of their support. Some of his trouble stems from his remarks in January suggesting that God wanted the city to remain "chocolate." Whatever the reason, the lack of appeal among white voters could hurt him as he seeks to pick up the support of the losing candidates, particularly because black voter turnout is believed to have been low and could be low again in May.
If elected, Landrieu would be the city's first white mayor since 1978, when his father, Moon, left office. Part of his appeal among black voters is attributed to his father's role in integrating the city administration.
Landrieu's sister Mary is a U.S. senator. "It's not that he's part of a family," she said when asked why he ran. "He's his own man."
Nagin, Landrieu and Ron Forman, chief executive of the Audubon Nature Institute, which runs the well-regarded zoo and aquarium here, had the most votes. With 94 percent of precincts reporting, Nagin had 38 percent (30,260 votes), Landrieu had 28 percent (22,073) and Forman had 17 percent (13,334).
Emerging from temporary homes scattered around the country, voters tried to choose a mayor they hope can restore this half-abandoned city.
Some drove in from Baton Rouge, Houston and as far away as Wisconsin. Scores of others boarded buses from Atlanta. They sat through long drives that took them in the final stretch through the empty, forlorn neighborhoods they once occupied, and said they felt compelled to make themselves heard in an election many consider a turning point in the city's history.
"The leadership of this city that comes after this horrible thing is so important," said Peggy Spiller, 53, whose home in New Orleans East was lost in the post-storm flood. She and her husband, Eddie, drove six hours from Houston to cast ballots.
How many people turned out to vote in each precinct was being viewed as an indicator of which neighborhoods are likely to be rebuilt; in many abandoned neighborhoods, people fear that residents who have left for good would not vote, revealing their lack of interest in the neighborhood and the city. Turnout could offer clues to the future racial makeup of the city.
In Lakeview, a prosperous and largely white neighborhood, some precincts had attracted voter turnout as high as 50 percent, although the area remains largely abandoned.
In the Lower Ninth Ward, a predominantly black neighborhood formerly composed of some middle-class and some poor families, turnout was much lower by Saturday afternoon -- as low as 15 percent in some precincts, poll workers said.
"A lot of my neighbors are in Texas now," said Demetris McGowan, 42, a hospital administrator who votes in a Lower Ninth Ward precinct but has been living in a nearby suburb. "I'm just sorry they didn't set up ballot booths over there."
Dennis Couvillion, 56, a lawyer and photographer who turned up Saturday to vote in Lakeview from another suburb, attributed the strong turnout in the area to people's desire to come back.
"You will not find a group more eager to return anywhere else in the city," he said. "And they know that this election may determine the kind of city they come back to."
About two-thirds of registered voters here before Hurricane Katrina were African American, and in the last open primary for mayor, about 62 percent of those who cast votes were African American.
Secretary of State Al Ater said it was hard to say if turnout was better or worse than typical because circumstances have changed so much, and because so many voters -- more than 20,000 -- cast ballots in early voting or by mail.
"We've never done anything like this before," he said. "I really don't have anything to gauge that with, but my gut is telling me turnout will be all right."
There is no more controversial figure in the race than Nagin, who elicits strong opinions from both blacks and whites.
Eddie Spiller voted for incumbent Nagin; his wife Peggy thought Nagin "lost his composure" during the storm when he cursed at the federal government. She voted for Landrieu.
"I just thought he was someone we could count on," she said of Nagin. "And he broke."
"I wanted to give him a second chance to see if he can bring the city back," Eddie Spiller said.
Several white and black voters who said they voted for Nagin in his first election said they have become disenchanted. Others, mostly black, agreed he had made mistakes but thought he should be reelected.
"I voted for Ray. He's not perfect, but who is?" said Shaun Lain, 37, one of those who had traveled from Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta to vote. "At this point, we need consistency."
"I look past the racial slur," McGowan said, referring to Nagin's "chocolate" city remark. "I think his heart is in the right place."
She said she was leery of "what the other candidates want to do with the city."
The question of what a black mayor or white mayor might mean in terms of which neighborhoods are rebuilt, or who is welcomed back, was frequently cited by voters.
Matthew Mysing, 29, a project manager for a home improvement company, said he was not particularly offended by Nagin's chocolate reference. Mysing, who is white, said he voted for Landrieu. He acknowledged that the election had stirred racial anxieties.
"Well, brother, I'm a minority here," he said. "I'd like to feel this is my city, and I haven't felt that way."
View all comments that have been posted about this article.