elections

District 98 candidates tackle education at forum

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The seven Democratic candidates for Rep. Neil Abramson’s seat in the Louisiana Capitol representing House District 98 were mostly in agreement at a forum on Monday night, addressing issues such as Medicaid expansion, civil rights and criminal justice reform. The public education system in New Orleans, however, brought out some differences among the candidates. Max Hayden Chiz, Kea Sherman, Marion “Penny” Freistadt, Carlos Zervigon, Ravi Sangisetty, Aimee Adatto Freeman and Evan Bergeron took the stage at the St. Charles Avenue Baptist Church for a forum and debate held by the Carrollton Area Network, a coalition of neighborhood organizations along Carrollton Avenue. See here for video of the entire forum.

elections

Video: Meet the House District 98 candidates

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The Carrollton Area Network held its second candidate forum for the upcoming state House elections on Monday, this one for the District 98 candidates: Max Hayden Chiz, Kea Sherman, Marion “Penny” Freistadt, Carlos Zervigon, Ravi Sangisetty, Aimee Adatto Freeman and Evan Bergeron. The seven candidates are vying for the seat that will be vacated by the term-limited Rep. Neil Abramson. You can watch the two-hour forum in the video above. If you want to go directly to the issues that interest you most, the questions are listed below, along with where you’ll find them in the video. 9:22 Introductions and the first bill you will pass
19:20 As a Democrat, how will you be effective in a Republican-controlled legislature? 29:35 How will you build on the expansion of Medicaid?

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Video: District 91 candidates on how they would advocate for New Orleans in Baton Rouge

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The four candidates for the open District 91 seat in the Louisiana House of Representatives — Carling Dinkler, Shawn “Pepper” Bowen Roussel, Mandie Landry and Robert McKnight — answered questions posed by the Carrollton Area Network about health care, taxes, criminal justice and other issues in a forum on Monday, Sept. 16. A video of the entire forum is below. The four candidates are vying for the seat held by Walt Leger III, who is term-limited. Candidate Robert McKnight, an attorney with the Orleans Public Defenders, arrived late to the Carrollton Area Network forum so was not available to answer the questions highlighted below.

elections

Two candidates withdraw from Senate District 5 race; one challenger to Karen Carter Peterson remains

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Two candidates have withdrawn from the election for Senate District 5, leaving only a single challenger to incumbent Sen. Karen Carter Peterson. Ronald Brown Jr. of Metairie and “Fox Rich” Richardson have both withdrawn from the race, according to the Louisiana Secretary of State’s office. Allen Borne Jr., a Democrat from New Orleans, will now be the only challenger to Peterson on the ballot. On Thursday (Aug. 16), Richardson posted a video message on Facebook — where she has more than 6,000 friends and followers — explaining that she withdrew because she discovered after filing that one of her most recent years’ state taxes had not been properly filed.

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A Message from Ethan Ashley: Orleans Parish School Board Member, Candidate for State Legislature Offers Vision for District 97

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As a proud man of faith, local elected leader, homeowner, non-profit director, husband-to-be, and parent, I humbly request the honor of using my decade of experience serving our community to represent District 97 in the Louisiana State House of Representatives. It has been my great privilege to represent District 2 on the Orleans Parish School Board, serving students, parents, teachers, and school leaders in our city. And while we have accomplished great things for our students and families since I have been elected, there is much more work to be done to ensure that our children and families are able to thrive. We must tackle the systemic and solvable intersecting issues involving healthcare, poverty, workforce, education, housing, and criminal justice. I am committed to addressing these issues to improve the lives of everyone in District 97.

elections

Sen. Karen Carter Peterson draws three challengers on last day of qualifying; House District 91 field grows to five

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In the final hours of qualifying on Thursday, the already-crowded field of contenders for about a dozen seats representing New Orleans in the state legislature swelled again to nearly 40 candidates — including the entry of three challengers to Sen. Karen Carter Peterson and a fifth candidate for House District 91. The biggest change to the ballot for many Uptown voters is in Senate District 5, which represents almost all of Uptown except for the Audubon area. Incumbent Sen. Karen Carter Peterson, who was unopposed for most of the qualifying period, drew three challengers on Thursday afternoon, all fellow Democrats: Allen Borne Jr. and “Fox Rich” Richardson of New Orleans, and Ronald Brown Jr. of Metairie. Borne is an attorney with an office on South Claiborne Avenue, according to his firm’s website. Richardson is an activist in criminal-justice reform who was formerly incarcerated alongside her husband after a botched bank robbery and now works with the Voice of the Experienced, according to her personal website.

elections

Qualifying in crowded state legislative elections slows as Thursday-evening deadline approaches

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Term-limits on a number of state legislators elected after Hurricane Katrina brought an initial flurry of candidates to newly-vacant seats in the first two days of qualifying this week, but no new contenders joined the crowded field on Thursday morning as only a few hours remained before the afternoon’s deadline for the Oct. 12 election. Contested elections include:

House District 91, which runs from the Irish Channel through Milan and Broadmoor into Hollygrove and is currently represented by Rep. Walt Leger: Carling Dinkler (vice president of an investment firm), attorney Mandie Landry, attorney Robert McKnight of the Orleans Parish public defenders office and John Perry III. House District 98, which expands from the Riverbend through Audubon, the university area, Carrollton and Freret and is represented by Rep. Neil Abramson: attorney Evan Bergeron, Max Hayden Chiz, business consultant Aimee Adatto Freeman, environmentalist Marion “Penny” Freistadt, attorney Ravi Sangisetty, attorney Kea Sherman and charter-education activist Carlos Zervigon. Senate District 3, being vacated by Sen. J.P. Morrell: current District 100 state Rep. John Bagneris (D) and current District 97 state Rep. Joe Bouie (D).

elections

Danae Columbus: House District 99 becomes battlefield for two former Zulu kings

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State Sen. Wesley Bishop’s surprise announcement last Friday that he would not seek re-election has set the stage for a power struggle between two former Zulu kings — 2017 Zulu King Adonis Expose and 2016 Zulu King Jay Banks, a popular member of the New Orleans City Council and powerbroker of the BOLD political organization. After Bishop’s decision became public, State Rep. Jimmy Harris — whose current house district overlaps portions of Bishop’s Senate District 4 — staked his claim on Bishop’s seat rather than running for re-election in House District 99. Expose, a businessman and community organizer, quickly stepped up for what could have been an easily, winnable contest against L. Jameel Shaheer, a former firefighter with limited resources who had previously declared his candidacy to “help the community.” Instead, lawyer and long-time government operative Candace Nikeia Newell arrived at qualifying with several member of the BOLD political organization including Councilmember Banks. Clearly the battle lines were drawn. Wait, readers might say.

elections

11 candidates now seeking two open Uptown seats in state legislature

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Four more candidates joined the hunt for two open seats representing Uptown New Orleans in the Louisiana state House of Representatives on Tuesday afternoon, bringing the total to 11 contenders for the two positions. In District 91 — which runs from the Irish Channel through Milan and Broadmoor into Hollygrove and is currently represented by Rep. Walt Leger — John Perry III qualified to run on Tuesday afternoon. The current field for that seat now stands at four Democrats:

District 91: Carling Dinkler (vice president of an investment firm), attorney Mandie Landry, attorney Robert McKnight of the Orleans Parish public defenders office and John Perry III. District 98 — which expands from the Riverbend through Audubon, the university area, Carrollton and Freret and is represented by Rep. Neil Abramson — drew three new candidates late Tuesday, Marion “Penny” Freistadt, Max Hayden Chiz and Carlos Zervigon. Chiz does not yet appear to have an online presence for his campaign.

elections

Open state legislature seats draw crowded fields as qualifying period begins

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Several seats in the Louisiana state legislature will be vacant this year because their representatives are term-limited, and a crowd of contenders showed up Tuesday morning for the first day of the official qualifying period for the Oct. 12 election. Two of the most competitive elections in the Uptown area will be for state House of Representatives Districts 91 and 98, where both Reps. Walt Leger and Neil Abramson have served since 2007 and are now term-limited. District 91 covers a large band of neighborhoods from the Irish Channel through Milan and Broadmoor into Hollygrove.