The crowded race for Congress in the Second Congressional District now has one less candidate. Yesterday Orleans Parish School Board member Jimmy Fahrenholtz was removed from the race. A lawsuit was filed seeking to disqualify Fahrenholtz for falsely stating that he did not owe any outstanding campaign finance fees or fines when he initially signed up for the race. Civil District Court Judge Nadine Ramsey agreed and ruled that Fahrenholtz did not properly complete his qualification papers.

Although he was a late entry and might have had a limited campaign war chest, Fahrenholtz was going to collect a good number of votes in the congressional race due to his high profile service on the school board. With the white conservative Democrat Fahrenholtz gone from the race, where will his votes go? Although the votes will likely be split among several candidates, it is clear that former television broadcaster Helena Moreno is in the best position to receive the majority of these votes. 

Moreno is also running as a conservative Democrat and is now the only major non-African American candidate in the race. She will clearly get a bump from the removal of the other major white candidate. Like it or not, in Louisiana politics, race plays a significant role in how votes are cast in an election. Philosophy is also important and Moreno is the closest to Fahrenholtz on both of those major criteria.

In the upcoming Democratic primary, there are several major African American candidates who will split the black vote, which comprise about 63% of the electorate. Although there will certainly be some crossover vote, Moreno is well positioned to collect a major portion of the white vote, which is about 33% of the district.

Moreno has other advantages. Although a political novice, she has assembled an impressive political team. Due to her seven years on local television, she has a high level of name recognition among the voters. Her campaign will be well funded, so she will be able to advertise aggressively. For example, a high profile billboard has already appeared on I-10.

Clearly, the campaign is still very young and almost anything can happen in the next few weeks, but Moreno’s chances to make the run-off just improved markedly.

Jeff Crouere is a native of New Orleans, LA and he is the host of a Louisiana based program, “Ringside Politics,” which airs at 7:30 p.m. Fri. and 10:00 p.m. Sun. on WLAE-TV 32, a PBS station, and 7 till 11 a.m.. weekdays on WGSO 990 AM in New Orleans and the Northshore. For more information, visit his web site at www.ringsidepolitics.com. E-mail him at jeff@ringsidepolitics.com