New Orleans organizers seeking to recall Mayor LaToya Cantrell from office believe they have received enough signatures to qualify for a special mayoral election.
The recall campaign began in August 2022, launched by chairman Belden Batiste and vice chairwoman Eileen Carter, attributing the cause to Cantrell’s “quiet quit” and neglect of interacting with department heads and addressing the city’s crime surge over the last few years.
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“It’s like a tale of two mayors,” said Carter, who worked in Cantrell’s social media department for three years. “I don’t think she’s making very good judgment decisions for the city at all, to the point of arrogance.”
The petition received over 50,000 signatures and was submitted before the Feb. 22 deadline on Wednesday.
The mayor’s calendar used to include regular meetings with departments but had not had any in over a year since November 2022, according to a Fox News affiliate’s public records analysis. Carter said it was hard to watch the mayor slip away from her duties.
Carter also spoke about the city’s rising crime rate. In September 2022, the Metropolitan Crime Commission reported that New Orleans had 52 homicides per 100,000 residents. New Orleans overtook St. Louis as America’s murder capital, with a 141% increase in homicides compared to recent years, as St. Louis had 45 homicides per 100,000 residents.
At the end of 2022, New Orleans recorded 266 homicides in 2022 — a 116% increase from 2019, according to the New Orleans City Council crime database.
“We’re like Gotham down here,” Carter said in an interview with Fox News. “It’s sad to say, but that’s kind of what people are calling us, and we’re calling ourselves that.”
She added that the city’s quality of life is declining, as many streets are riddled with potholes and many buildings have busted windows.
“People are fearful,” the campaign vice chairwoman said. “This administration hasn’t risen to the occasion that we need right now. Quality of life standards are just diminishing.”
Many residents are fearful of signing the petition due to retribution, but Carter said that the mayor’s office is already taking steps to limit the campaign’s popularity. She accused Cantrell of blocking the campaign from hosting an event at a local restaurant after the venue’s landlord called the owner and told him to cancel the event. The landlord later gave the owner a restraining order claiming that he violated his lease, per Fox News.
Cantrell’s office previously labeled the recall organization as a “Republican-backed maneuver by people with an agenda” to “undermine and discredit the first Black woman mayor of New Orleans.”
However, Carter said the campaign recruited people across the political spectrum, expressing disappointment with Cantrell at playing a “race card.”
“Their narrative is what is playing across America. It’s the easiest one. It’s the race card,” Carter said. “She’s a black woman. I’m a black woman too. I live in the city. I want to be safe.”
The New Orleans Registrar of Voters’ office will have 20 days to verify the signatures, which were delivered by the campaign last week, and determine next steps, according to state law. The governor does have the ability to call for a special election if the voter’s office decides to pursue the recall campaign’s claims.
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“Right now, our mayor doesn’t love New Orleans, so the citizens and the residents stood up,” Carter said. “We’re taking our city back, and we’re gonna save New Orleans.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to Cantrell’s office for comment.
