Businessman Ray Nagin elected New Orleans mayor

Jet, March 18, 2002

A New Orleans business executive who had never run for office was recently elected mayor of New Orleans.

The executive, Ray Nagin, 45, succeeds Mayor Marc Morial who had served for two terms.

Nagin easily swept past New Orleans Police Superintendent Richard Pennington, 54, in the runoff election.

Unofficial results showed Nagin with 59 percent of the vote and Pennington, with 41 percent.

"New Orleans is going to do things different," Nagin told supporters during his victory speech.

"I'm not in it for the money, I'm in it for our children and grandchildren."

The new mayor asked voters to be patient with him in his efforts to change the city.

"I don't have a Superman undershirt under my suit. It didn't take us one year to get into this shape, and it won't take a year to get out. I predict a tough 18 months."

Both candidates were political newcomers who took leave from their jobs to campaign and both are Black Democrats in a majority Black city.

Nagin is on leave as a vice president of Cox Communications, a company that operates the local cable system.

Pennington, whose contract ends in May, returned to work at JET press time and said he will work with the new mayor's transition. He was credited with cleaning up a corrupt police department and slashing the city's crime rate.

It has been 66 years since New Orleans had a mayor who had never before held elected office.