The race to replace City Council Member Oliver Thomas, who is running for mayor, has drawn a crowded field of 11 candidates. They’re running to represent the district that includes New Orleans East and the Lower 9th Ward, two areas of the city that have long lacked the investment they need.
District E is the largest district in the city and includes densely populated areas, more suburban neighborhoods and industrial spaces, though much of it is taken up by wetlands and other uninhabited areas. The district includes everything from affluent areas to poorer communities, and while the district is majority Black in terms of race, it is also home to much of Orleans Parish’s Vietnamese population.
That geographic and population diversity, combined with the lingering impacts of Hurricane Katrina and the levee failures, makes it one of the more challenging districts to represent…