NEW ORLEANS – LaToya Cantrell has been sworn in as the first female mayor in the history of the City of New Orleans.
Cantrell took the oath of office around 11 a.m., an hour into a ceremony at the Mahalia Jackson Theater presided over by former Democratic National Committee Chairperson Donna Brazile.
The new mayor’s cabinet was sworn in before Cantrell took to the podium in front of a crowd of dignitaries including Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards and Majority Whip Representative Steve Scalise, among many others.
Cantrell takes office on the 300th anniversary of the founding of New Orleans, the crowning event in the city’s yearlong Tricentennial celebrations.
“New Orleans, you look good at 300! And you know what, we look good at 300!” Cantrell said. “And we broke every kind of glass ceiling, and every color line, and an old, outdated rule about who’s supposed to be Mayor, about what that Mayor is supposed to look like, or where he was supposed to be born.”
A native of Los Angeles, Cantrell came to New Orleans in 1990 to study at Xavier University.
As Brazile pointed out, Cantrell chose New Orleans, and chose to get involved in the city’s political landscape after Hurricane Katrina, when Cantrell rose to prominence working to save the decimated Broadmoor neighborhood.
“This moment of history we are sharing today really is your moment,” Cantrell said. “It’s more your moment than mine. And as we step together into this new era, we step together into something new.”
Cantrell said New Orleans will be a “woke city,” inclusive to all and with an equitable share for all.
“Three hundred years and counting,” she said. “I vow to each one of you standing here today before God Almighty, I will spend every breath and every moment of the next four years proving to you that you made the right choice.”
Inauguration activities continued after Cantrell was sworn in with a second line, a veteran’s reception, and a private inauguration ball Monday night.
