On May 7, 2018, Mayor Cantrell was sworn in as the first female Mayor of New Orleans, just in time to celebrate the city’s tricentennial, or 300th anniversary. An open primary was held for the Mayoral race on October 14, 2017 and included 18 candidates the largest primary field for mayor since the 22-candidate field in 2006. City Councilwoman LaToya Cantrell (D) and Judge Desiree Charbonnet (D) advanced from the mayoral primary election finishing ahead of 16 other candidates, setting the stage for a general election in which Cantrell defeated Charbonnet on November 18, 2017.
Prior to the election, LaToya Cantrell was in her second term on the New Orleans City Council, representing District B. Her service to the city of New Orleans began with her Broadmoor neighborhood’s beautification program and other projects. By the time Hurricane Katrina and the levee failures occurred in August of 2005, she had already stepped off the sidelines to serve her community in a deeper way, serving as president of the Broadmoor Improvement Association. Using her organizing skills and relentless commitment to rebuild, LaToya lead her community back and Broadmoor now stands as a national model for disaster recovery. “In Year One of the Cantrell administration we fought for our Fair Share — and we won. We made the Sewerage and Water Board, infrastructure and public safety our priorities, and we marked the one-year point with a deal that puts over $200 million into infrastructure over the next five years…“In the year ahead: we have our sights set on cleaning up our City, on tackling the affordable housing crisis, and on strengthening our families. We’re not going to be told ‘it can’t be done,’ and we’re not going to stop moving New Orleans forward, together.” Mayor Cantrell. Cantrell earned her B.A. in sociology from Xavier University of Louisiana. She later completed executive management training at Harvard University. Cantrell worked as a nonprofit management executive prior to her election to the city council. She is a dedicated wife to her husband, Jason, proud mother of her daughter, RayAnn, and a parishioner at Blessed Trinity Catholic Church. |