Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu appears to have routed five major challengers in today's mayoral primary, riding a sense of regret among voters who rejected him four years ago and extraordinary biracial support to claim a rare first-round victory.
With 90 of the city's 366 precincts counted, Landrieu had 64 percent of the vote, according to WWL-TV. His closest challenger, businessman Troy Henry, had 15 percent.
When he takes office May 6, Landrieu will become the city's first white chief executive since his father, Moon Landrieu, left the job in 1978. Early analysis shows that Mitch Landrieu's victory owed to widespread crossover voting by African-Americans, who make up two-thirds of the city's residents.
This was Landrieu's third try at the office - he lost in a runoff to outgoing mayor Ray Nagin in 2006. State Sen. Ed Murray's unexpected departure from the race in January was a big part of Landrieu's landslide, but the NYT identifies another interesting reason:
Just as the election was gaining heat, the Saints happened to win a trip to the Super Bowl and all talk of the mayor's race was drowned out for its last two weeks. That made it much harder for lesser-known candidates to gain traction.
As a Jets fan, I am definitely rooting for the Saints over the Colts. Feel free to use this as a Super Bowl open thread!
UPDATE: As Izengabe points out in comments, Gov. Bobby Jindal will get to appoint a replacement for Landrieu (his pick has to be confirmed by a majority of both houses of the state lege). GOPVoter provides a list of possible names, but note that Jindal is also trying to get rid of the Lt. Gov. position entirely.
