This election is about power, not personalities

Saturday decides who sets priorities and writes checks. If we want budgets that match our lives, we must vote. I endorse Oliver Thomas. He knows our streets, our elders, our small businesses, and our goals. He listens, then acts.

Representation changes budgets and contracts

Representation is not symbolism. It is service. When leaders come from our community, they fund health, youth work, safety, and business corridors that matter here. Money follows values. Votes decide where that money goes.

The endorsement game is not about you

A row of familiar faces endorsed a non-Black front-runner. Ask why. What did insiders get promised? Committee power? Contracts? Soft landings? That is how the old machine works. It trades our voice for private gain. We do not have to accept it.

Our record of Black leadership delivers results

Black leadership has delivered clinics, programs, and credible policing reforms. It built local firms that hire our people and pay our tithes. That history is real. Do not let anyone sell the myth that “competence” lives somewhere else. We built excellence here and we can scale it.

The double standard must end

Too many voters hold Black candidates to a harsher bar. “Twice as good for half as much” is not a governing rule. It is a trap. Apply one standard to everyone: show up, deliver results, invest in communities that built this city. Oliver Thomas meets that test.

Contract fights tell a story

City Hall turmoil has hit Black vendors the hardest. Fights and cancellations have targeted firms like Henry Consulting, Richards Disposal, Spears Group, and the Rice Companies, and even harmed Black-owned restaurants. That chaos drains local wealth and jobs. We need a mayor who stabilizes the process and grows Black enterprise, not one who sidelines it.

Chaos is not reform

New Orleans needs steady hands, not stunts. We need a mayor who fixes problems without burning bridges that we paid to build. Thomas understands budgets, service delivery, and neighborhood trust. He has made mistakes, owned them, and kept working. That matters.

Read the stakes

Journalist Anitra Brown and The New Orleans Tribune framed this race clearly: Black political power is on the line. Read her piece and judge for yourself:

What “representation” means on Monday morning

• A budget that funds youth jobs and violence interruption.
• A sanitation plan that pays vendors on time and respects workers.
• A procurement system that grows Black-owned firms, not weeds them out.
• Department heads chosen for skill and fairness, not spin.
• A mayor who answers calls from Uptown to the East and from the East Bank and the Westbank.

Answer a tired narrative with facts

Some claim a non-Black mayor will “calm the city” and “run it like a business.” We tried performative “calm.” We got churn, veto theater, and contract chaos. Competence means results. Results begin when leaders know the block captains, the pastors, the organizers, and the owners. Thomas does.

Your Saturday plan

• Vote early in the day.
• Bring two people. Text your group chat now.
• Check on elders. Offer a ride.
• Confirm your site. If the location moved, text ten friends.
• Document issues. Ask for the poll manager. Get it fixed.

Why Oliver Thomas

He invests in neighborhoods, not narratives. He respects local firms and wants them to grow. And he knows public safety requires jobs, lights, trust, and swift service—not press releases. He will be accountable to the people who live here, work here, and worship here.

Close the gap between values and votes

We say we want safe streets, real jobs, and thriving Black enterprise. Then we must vote for them. Endorsements do not own us. Polls do not define us. Turnout does. Show up for a city that shows up for you.

Vote Saturday. Vote Oliver Thomas. Bring two voters.