IS MAYORAL CANDIDATE JAMES PERRY TOO "DARK" TO BECOME MAYOR OF NEW ORLEANS?---William T. Hoston

The city of New Orleans elected its first black mayor, Ernest “Dutch” Morial, in 1977 and black candidates have won all mayoral elections thereafter. However, all the mayoral winners have been light/fair skinned blacks (e.g., Dutch Morial, Sidney Barthelemy, Marc Morial, and Ray Nagin to name a few). Skin tone plays an important role in "Black on Black" and "Biracial" mayoral elections in New Orleans. It was probably a major factor in two New Orleans mayoral contests, 1986 and 2002. For example, in 1986 darker skinned William Jefferson (former corrupt US congressmen), a then city council member ran against lighter skinned Sidney Barthelemy. In the general election, Barthelemy won 86% of the white vote and Jefferson won 60% of the black vote. In the 2002 mayoral election, Ray Nagin captured a hefty portion of the white vote as well, all 143 white majority precincts (not the same in 2006).

In the post-Hurricane Katrina period, many black voters have not returned to the city. And those currently residing in New Orleans have been turned-off with the antics of current mayor, Ray Nagin. Because black voter turnout may be relatively low in the upcoming election, this may potentially impact the outcome, compromise the black political leadership that New Orleans has enjoyed since the 1970s, and subsequently alienate James Perry from contention.

If James Perry is left in a run-off with another Black candidate, I would suggest employing a neo-conservative campaign strategy. If James Perry is left in a run-off with a White candidate, I would suggest employing a de-racialized campaign strategy. At the end of the day, the base of white voters that will determine the next mayor of New Orleans will "only" respond to a Black candidate that practices a neo-conservative brand of politics and totally deracializes their campaign. Other than that, he could bleach his skin since he was not born with the skin tone that black and white voters in New Orleans are accustom to.

William T. Hoston is a professor of political science at Wichita State University in the Department of Political Science (and New Orleans native).