New Orleans City Councilmember Oliver Thomas listens to the frustrations of residents speaking about the New Year’s Day French Quarter terrorist attack. The council held a meeting at City Hall on Wednesday, January 8, 2025. (Photo by Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune)
New Orleans City Council member Oliver Thomas shakes hands as the Krewe of Nefertiti rolls in New Orleans East Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025. (Staff Photo by David Grunfeld, The Times-Picayune, NOLA.com)
Council member Oliver Thomas speaks to the attendees during the National Seniors Day “Senior Roundup” party at the Joe Brown Park Recreation Center in New Orleans, Friday, Aug. 30, 2024.
Oliver Thomas at the new WBOK radio station located on the campus of Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans on Thursday, May 20, 2021. (Photo by Chris Granger | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
Councilmember Oliver Thomas speaks during the ribbon cutting event at the Reveal, a $43 million project that built 150 affordable housing units for families in New Orleans, Friday, July 22, 2022. (Photo by Sophia Germer, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
Oliver Thomas, right, interviews former news anchor Sally-Ann Roberts at the new WBOK radio station studio on the campus of Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans on Thursday, May 20, 2021. (Photo by Chris Granger | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
New Orleans City Councilmember Oliver Thomas listens to the frustrations of residents speaking about the New Year’s Day French Quarter terrorist attack. The council held a meeting at City Hall on Wednesday, January 8, 2025. (Photo by Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune)
Oliver Thomas, a veteran of local politics who rose through one of New Orleans’ vaunted Black political organizations in the 1990s, held two City Council seats and years later overcame scandal to win a third, is running for mayor.
Thomas in a prepared video released Tuesday morning said he was jumping in the race to confront the high cost of living, frustration with local leadership and lack of economic opportunity bemoaned by many New Orleanians.
“This is not the New Orleans we grew up in,” Thomas said. “It’s becoming the town of the haves and have-nots. … This city deserves renewal. We need a comeback, and nobody understands that better than me.”
His long-anticipated announcement injects a fresh dose of competition into the contest to succeed Mayor LaToya Cantrell. Thomas presents the most formidable opposition yet to Helena Moreno, his City Council colleague who announced her own mayoral bid in December, has amassed a nearly million-dollar war chest and had faced few opponents with robust political resumes.
New Orleans City Council member Oliver Thomas shakes hands as the Krewe of Nefertiti rolls in New Orleans East Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025. (Staff Photo by David Grunfeld, The Times-Picayune, NOLA.com)
Thomas has hired political consultants and recorded campaign video in recent weeks. He took in by far the most money last year of any other candidates in the field besides Moreno, with $192,000 raised and $205,000 on-hand at year’s end, according to state records.
His mayoral bid culminates a redemptive arc Thomas has traced since 2007, when he publicly apologized to voters, resigned his council seat and pleaded guilty to federal charges stemming from a bribery scandal that had engulfed City Hall. Before that affair, his political connections, lengthy experience and everyman persona lent Thomas the aura of a mayor-in-waiting.
He returned to politics in 2021 with a campaign for the council’s District E, in which voters decided he had earned a second chance and sent him back to City Hall.
Councilmember Oliver Thomas speaks during the ribbon cutting event at the Reveal, a $43 million project that built 150 affordable housing units for families in New Orleans, Friday, July 22, 2022. (Photo by Sophia Germer, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
Thomas said Tuesday that the length of his resume in public service — and, now, a list of promises he says he has kept to voters over the past four years — show the depth of his commitment to doing right by New Orleanians.
“People keep telling me the reasons I shouldn’t run for mayor,” he said. “Some people say it’s my past. I’ve owned it. I’ve taken responsibility, and I’ve learned immeasurably from it.”
He said he was running, in part, to better involve all New Orleanians in the decisions made by elected leaders. He took a jab at the City Council on which he sits, criticizing what he described as infighting on that panel, which has frequently clashed with Cantrell during her second term. At times, Thomas has been a dissenting voice against Moreno and other members.
“The City Council’s in turmoil,” he said in the video. “Nobody’s working together. Too much finger-pointing.”
Oliver Thomas, right, interviews former news anchor Sally-Ann Roberts at the new WBOK radio station studio on the campus of Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans on Thursday, May 20, 2021. (Photo by Chris Granger | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
Thomas grew up in the Lower 9th Ward, one of five children of a laborer and a telephone operator.
After attending college on a basketball scholarship, he spent a few years working on the East Coast, then returned to New Orleans in 1985 to work as a substitute teacher and later for a private firm that ran the city’s affordable housing developments at the time.
He also began volunteering on campaigns. Thomas would break into politics in earnest in 1986 when Ken Carter, one of the city’s first Black tax assessors whom Thomas had helped elect, called to urge him to meet with Carter’s friend, then-District B Councilmember Jim Singleton.
Council member Oliver Thomas speaks to the attendees during the National Seniors Day “Senior Roundup” party at the Joe Brown Park Recreation Center in New Orleans, Friday, Aug. 30, 2024.
Singleton was impressed by the young man and hired Thomas as a legislative aide.
Eight years later, Thomas won the seat representing District B that his ex-boss had held, while Singleton moved on to win one of the two at-large seats. Thomas again followed in his mentor’s footsteps in 1998, winning an at-large council post when Singleton launched a failed bid for mayor.
He would hold that position until 2007’s scandal.
Thomas ultimately ousted incumbent District E member Cyndi Nguyen in a 2021 election as residents, irked by a lack of private investment, rising crime and other problems, sent him back to City Hall with 57% of the district vote.
Oliver Thomas at the new WBOK radio station located on the campus of Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans on Thursday, May 20, 2021. (Photo by Chris Granger | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
Thomas and other local leaders have since touted steep drops in violent crime in New Orleans East and the city as a whole. Among other factors, analysts and law enforcement attribute those trends to more collaboration across police agencies, first responders and officials, plus increased outreach by community groups.
In his announcement, Thomas also touted the transformation underway at the old Six Flags site in New Orleans East, which has sat in disrepair since Hurricane Katrina. Crews recently began dismantling it as part of a plan to construct a recreational and entertainment development at the sprawling location.
Moreno, Thomas and the other candidates will confront a challenge already shaping the election to succeed Cantrell, who has become deeply unpopular: a thick layer of disillusionment New Orleanians harbor towards the city’s political class.
If they hope to win, political analysts say candidates must break through residents’ perception of politicians as ineffective and uncaring to convince them they can effectively confront the city’s challenges.
Moreno issued a statement Tuesday morning welcoming Thomas’ candidacy.
“I’ve been expecting and welcome Councilmember Thomas into the race,” Moreno said. “This election will provide the people of New Orleans with an important choice on who they trust and have confidence in to run and lead our city.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
James Finn covers politics for The Times-Picayune | Nola.com. Email him at jfinn@theadvocate.com.
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