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## New Orleans DSA Recommends
Clerk of Criminal District Court: **Calvin Duncan #7**
Council District A: **AGAINST Holly Friedman #34**
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See Appendix: Endorsements vs. Recommendations.
Early voting is November 1 through 8. Election Day is November 15th.
Visit GeauxVote to check your registration and find your polling location.
# Orleans Parish
## Clerk of Criminal District Court
### **Calvin Duncan (D)********🌹**
**By unanimous vote at our September General Meeting, New Orleans DSA recommended voting for Calvin Duncan, for his thorough platform and continued advocacy for incarcerated people.**
Calvin Duncan was one of the principal architects of the legal strategy to overturn Louisiana’s system of non-unanimous juries, a success achieved at the US Supreme Court in 2020. Wrongfully arrested at 19 for murder, Duncan was sentenced to die at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. Refusing to give in to the crushing weight of Louisiana’s criminal legal system, Duncan became a jailhouse lawyer and helped other incarcerated men research their cases, file appeals, and overturn their convictions.
Duncan tried challenging his own case, but could not get access to police reports, witness statements, and other records. When he finally got Innocence Project New Orleans to take his case, those records showed that prosecutors had hidden evidence that proved his innocence. After 28 years wrongfully imprisoned at Angola, Duncan co-founded The First 72+ re-entry program, graduated from Tulane, and earned a law degree. He’s now a research associate at Loyola’s Jesuit Social Research Institute, pushing for criminal justice reform.
People wonder why the clerk of court is an elected position, and justifiably so. Duncan knows what it means if the clerk of court doesn’t preserve court records and doesn’t give people access to them: human beings, like Duncan himself, languish in prison without a chance to challenge the evidence against them. He is endorsed by VOTE.
### **Darren Lombard****(D)**
In the leadup to the primary, a desperate Darren Lombard joined with Republican AG Liz Murrill in falsely accusing Calvin Duncan of misrepresenting his thoroughly vetted and documented exoneration. In response, 160 lawyers signed onto a statement supporting Duncan’s innocence and exoneration. On election day, the incumbent violated state electioneering law by sending election workers to the polls with lanyards advertising his candidacy. Tracking with his eroding electability, teachers’ union UTNO rescinded their previous endorsement.
The clerk of court keeps court records, assembles jury pools, and staffs election polling locations. Incumbent Darren Lombard’s staff had to manually search a city dump because someone threw away “hundreds of sensitive criminal court records.” Under Lombard’s leadership, the court had to cancel criminal trials for two months in 2023 because they had been illegally excluding people with felony convictions from serving on juries for over a year and a half.
The victories he does claim haven’t even happened yet as we approach the end of his first term. Criminal court still doesn’t have an electronic filing system, court records aren’t accessible 24/7, and Louisiana hasn’t reversed the end of early Sunday voting (early voting skips Sundays because Souls to the Polls efforts were too successful at getting Black churchgoers to the polls).
It’s never been a flashy job, and doing it well largely means making sure a lot of daily bureaucratic processes happen without mistakes. But when the right wing is ready to withhold resources, use federal troop intimidation, and outright cheat to maintain power, is this the guy who’s going to lead the fight against that? Not if he’s still promising to eventually put daily court calendars online, four years into his term.
## City Council District A
### Holly Friedman (D)
**By unanimous vote at our October General Meeting, New Orleans DSA recommended AGAINST Friedman, for her general unsuitability and unwillingness to represent****and defend all of her prospective****constituents.**
Enabling the genocide in Palestine is a red line for us. Holly Friedman’s leadership role in the local Anti-Defamation League, which slanders local students protesting the US-funded genocide of Palestinians as a “safety threat,” is already damning. Then add to that her employment at the District Attorney’s office that brought absurd charges against these student protestors. Overpolicing and surveillance ties our city directly to the Israeli surveillance state, its colonization of Palestinian lands, and its genocide of Palestinian people. Her role at the DA’s office supporting that surveillance apparatus, along with Council’s history of using New Orleanians as test subjects for unvalidated software, is a dangerous combination for the future of progressive organizing and free speech.
Friedman accepted large donations and endorsements from reactionaries and touts them in her mailers to Republican households, but then excludes these for Democratic and no party households. One comes from Laura Cannizzaro Rodrigue, who leads the Bayou Mama Bears, a far-right agitation group that opposes vaccinations and pushes censorship in libraries. Rodrigue is the daughter of former Orleans Parish DA Leon Cannizzarro, known for fake subpoenas and cementing Louisiana as the most incarcerated jurisdiction on the planet, including by jailing crime victims to compel their testimony. Friedman got laughed at when trying to convince Urban League forum attendees that, “I don’t think people in Lakeview are saying, ‘Don’t support Gert Town, don’t support Hollygrove.’” She then turned around and told wealthy, white Uptown residents it was time to elect “one of us” in a targeted mailer.
### **Aimee McCarron (D)**
Since the primary, Aimee McCarron has picked up endorsements from DSA’s District A candidate Bob Murrell and DSA’s School Board member Gabriela Biro, along with most of her school board colleagues. She also has the support of State Rep. Mandie Landry and carries a split endorsement from the AFL-CIO, UTNO, and Unite Here 23. Until recently, McCarron was incumbent Joe Giarrusso’s policy and budget director. As a candidate, her core policy goal has been to balance the City’s budget by bringing more city services inside City Hall as opposed to contracting out expensive bids. She supports hiring city workers to expand city capacity on fixing potholes, streetlights, and traffic signals, citing that there is currently only one electrician employed by City Hall. With the livable wage ordinance giving City employees a much higher minimum wage and recent AFSCME recognition for City workers, an expanded municipal workforce is one method of addressing the affordability crisis and reversing neoliberalism.
In the few short weeks between the primary and now, candidates have shifted from talking about spending more money on hiring city employees, to now previewing austerity cuts after the city suddenly revealed that we’re flat broke with a deficit well over $100 million. A consistent throughline to McCarron’s communications in the runoff is that she is “the budget queen” who will dive head-first into the fiasco and own it. We can only hope that McCarron resists calls to impose an austerity regime that would leave numerous city workers out of work. In our initial coverage, we noted her support from figures we don’t like, including Republican State Senate president Cameron Henry, who has cosponsored anti-trans legislation, and contributions from major Trump booster and recall-funder Richard Farrell.
## City Council District E
### Cyndi Nguyen (D)
Cyndi Nguyen (D) represented District E on the City Council from 2018-2022, losing to incumbent Oliver Thomas in her reelection bid. In her first term, Nguyen was among city council members to reject tax breaks for Folgers, but supported exemptions for the Iriapak plastic packaging factory, estimated to take $435,634 from the city over five years. In her re-election bid, residents cited concerns that Nguyen’s vision for redeveloping areas of New Orleans East, such as Lincoln Beach, did not align with their priorities. Nguyen then worked as a community outreach advisor for RTA. Now, she touts her background in “community development and nonprofit leadership” and emphasizes “finishing” the work from her first term.
Meanwhile, energy costs are skyrocketing across the country and in New Orleans. To combat the climate crisis, she supports community solar power and “exploring public ownership—or municipalization—of Entergy,” but received criticism during her first election for not acknowledging donations to her non-profit, VIET, $27,625 from Entergy, including $6,625 as part of Entergy’s campaign to buy support for a new power plant. To Verite, she cited “the intersection of public safety and economic instability” as the most important issue facing New Orleans. During her first term, Nguyen supported expanding surveillance infrastructure; this year, she joined the call for stricter regulations. Nguyen stopped short of calling the war on Gaza a genocide, but supports “a City Council resolution that explicitly condemns violence against Palestinian civilians and demands an end to U.S. military aid that fuels the conflict.” Nguyen supports zoning reform, limits to AirBnBs, and new housing construction, but has not committed to rent control or similar policies.
### **Jason Hughes (D)**
PR consultant Jason Hughes has been the state representative for District 100 since 2019, after being disqualified in 2015 for failing to file his tax returns. During his time in the legislature, Hughes has served as Vice Chair of the Appropriations Committee, House Democratic Caucus Whip, and Chair of the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus Foundation. He has sponsored bills that have streamlined the process to deal with blight and abandoned properties, improved emergency coordination in Orleans Parish, established oversight and accountability of public housing through Housing Authority of New Orleans, tax credits for hiring young workers and apprentices, provided emergency contraception for sexual assault victims, and expanded tutoring program services for students for foundational subjects. When Jeff Landry’s administration turned down summer Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) program funds for food for children, Hughes wrote a proposal to require the state to accept federal food assistance. In 2024, Hughes received criticism for being one of the few Democrats in Louisiana who voted for Jeff Landry’s school choice bill (HB 475), a bill that led to the creation of the LA GATOR Scholarship Program which allows families to siphon public funds for private school tuition.
In his Verite News questionnaire, Hughes, who served in senior positions for Louisiana Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco and U.S. Senator Mary L. Landrieu, cites the “depth and breadth” of his experience, such as appropriating money for parks and recreation and the New Orleans East Hospital. A review of the VOTE questionnaire reflects that Hughes emphasizes proper and continued investment in NORD, opposes the expansion of and abuse of surveillance technologies like facial recognition, and supports New Orleans’s sanctuary city status, but opposes municipalization of our electric utilities and opposes a Council resolution condemning the violence against Palestinians while saying he favors a ceasefire.
Hughes has picked up endorsements from the Greater New Orleans AFL-CIO, UTNO, and the Orleans Parish Democratic Executive Committee (OPDEC).
# Bond Proposals
**Hey. You. Stop right there.** Let’s get something straight. You’re the one who came this far. You’re the one reading about bond proposals. So don’t turn around and complain that we’re giving you too much of what you came here for. Let’s. Fucking. Go.
The City is currently facing a budget shortfall around $160 million. Your ballot has three proposals for the sale of bonds that would fund over half a billion dollars of capital projects with years of community support. These bonds can only be used towards specific projects like construction and maintenance, not payroll or other services.
CBNO’s guide to what a bond does is worth exploring for those unfamiliar with the process. These bonds are bank loans that, over the course of 30 years, will be paid back with interest from your tax dollars. The City asserts there is no increase in tax rate, as millages collected are already dedicated towards a debt service tax rate set by the City’s Board of Liquidation. BGR estimates that residents of the East Bank of Orleans Parish currently have 11% of their property taxes go towards debt services. If passed, the City’s Board of Liquidation “can maintain the current debt service tax rate” to pay off this added debt without increasing the collected property taxes.
As socialists, it is important to center the struggle of people over the accumulation of profits by capitalists. These projects, funded on debt that is paid with interest over thirty years from residents, are sold as shared prosperity. But who prospers the most? According to the City’s Board of Liquidation website, banks and firms purchase these bonds. If the bonds are sold at the maximum allowed interest rate of 8% annum, these banks and firms stand to collect over $1 billion in profits from our property taxes.
It’s important to see the ties of international monopoly capital with the use of our public tax dollars to create profits for imperialists. A board of directors member of a current bond purchaser, Piper Sandler, also sits on the board of a New York branch of an Israeli bank and a charter school network. Truist Securities’ major stakeholders include BlackRock and Merrill Lynch and has board of directors members including a former VP at Northrop Grumman and CEO of an oil and gas company. JP Morgan Chase has a litany of crimes, whether that’s helping Jeffrey Epstein or trying to set up private banks in Venezuela if a coup is successful. If passed, the profits collected from tax dollars of New Orleanians for the next three decades could be flowing to private investors who invest in drilling and genocide. It’s important to understand the role of finance capital’s aiding and funding of war and the climate crisis through endless growth of profits.
## PW Prop. No. 1 of 3 (Affordable Housing) – $45M Bond – CC – 30 Yrs.
This proposal sends $45 million towards affordable housing capital projects. It’s meant to purchase properties, materials, and labor for new units or for renovating existing units, as well as other “capital improvements.” Both outgoing and incoming mayoral teams say that this bond will be managed through the recently created Housing Trust Fund (HTF) that receives a dedicated 2% from the City’s General Fund.
However, at least one major local housing advocacy organization, the Greater New Orleans Housing Alliance, is sufficiently concerned about replacement that the organization is opposing this proposal. In a likely act of retaliation, Councilmember JP Morrell recently removed GNOHA from the city’s Housing Trust Fund Advisory Committee, after they bought ads rightfully criticizing his failures as Utility Committee chair.
Lending some credence to GNOHA’s interpretation, the Bureau of Governmental Research opposes the proposal and argues that City officials are attempting to illegally replace the HTF funding source with these bonds. Without citing any specific Councilmember or city official, the BGR claims that “some council and administration officials want the bonds to cover most of the new budget dedication for the Housing Trust Fund.” Discussions among housing advocates and residents at a recent meeting of the Housing Trust Fund Advisory Committee, the body tasked with recommending uses for the trust fund, echoed this sentiment. The City’s Housing Ecosystem Plan also highlights that, to make the most effective impact on affordability, housing bonds and the Housing Trust Fund should be “managed as two separate sources of funding for housing programs.” The BGR report includes contradictory claims credited to anonymous city officials: the first an anonymous Councilmember who says the bond funds will be _supplemental_ to the HTF, and the second attributed to “some council and administration officials” who intend to use the bond funds to _replace_ the 2% general fund allocation. The latter option would be illegal because voters overwhelmingly approved a dedicated 2% allocation. The BGR contends that it is, in fact, the Council’s intention to violate the law.
The question is whom do you trust. Councils and Councilmembers have lied before, and there is no way to _proactively_ prevent the Council from replacing the HTF’s 2%. Rather, the only way to block such maneuvering would be to sue the City after a specific misallocation of the funds. Without knowing the incoming Council’s true intentions with the HTF and bond proceeds, you essentially have to take the Council at their word that they won’t violate the HTF, and deal with the repercussions after the fact. That said, BGR opposed establishing the Housing Trust Fund in the first place, so their coverage here is hardly “independent.” Historically, their housing policy interests see housing not as a human right but as a commodified privilege to be managed through a deregulated capitalist open market. Voters will have to decide which bad actor they find more trustworthy.
## PW Prop. No. 2 of 3 (City Infrastructure) – $415M Bond – CC – 30 Yrs.
You read that correctly: it’s half a billion dollars over thirty years, and it’s for good reason. This proposal is a catch-all for a number of projects. Some of these projects are long-requested, like extending the Lafitte Greenway to the RTA hub at the end of Canal, and protected paths in the East. Some are ongoing issues, like fixing roads, streetlights, and bridges. Major investments in public goods like parks and transit ways are the crux of this bond proposal. BGR’s report breakdown shows that of the $434.4 million of bond funding, 97% of it is going to Infrastructure, public facilities and equipment, parks and recreation, and housing.
But like every capitalist scheme in New Orleans, there are the grifters who threaten to poison the good work with corporate welfare. Projects like “Construction of a Miracle baseball field for handicapped and disabled children,” upgrading surveillance systems, fences and security for jails, and developing the abandoned Bywater Naval Base ($7.5 million) and the abandoned Six Flags ($5.5 million) remind us of the NOLA Coalition from a few years ago with the dual fundraising platform of investing in youth and expanding the police state. This also includes $7.6 million in public dollars for the New Orleans Museum of Art, a non-profit that does not pay property taxes with over $97 million in total assets. This project by itself is the 9th largest bond funding allocation. These projects totaling $22.5 million (5%) are a minimal grift but a grift nonetheless.
According to the City, several layers of transparency will monitor these funds. However, there is room for the Council to amend the list of projects (“Council may remove from the City Infrastructure Project List any project it determines to be impossible, impractical, or no longer feasible or desirable”). This can be done through individual amendments with obfuscated titles with little public notice. As such, there must be an ongoing effort to hold Council accountable for spending the money on what was voted for.
## PW Prop. No. 3 of 3 (Drainage & Stormwater Mgmt.) – $50M Bond – CC – 30 Yrs.
Once upon a time, much of Bulbancha was wetlands. The screw pump allowed New Orleans to expand, but with a reliance on concrete and easily neglected infrastructure. Entergy has capitalized on our reliance on them to power our pumps to give millions of our public dollars to their private shareholders. The move towards more green infrastructure has been an ongoing struggle for experts and community organizers.
At face value, this bond is a way to fund these types of projects. Pages 7-12 of the project list outline a number of green projects ($8.6 million), green/gray projects ($34.1 million), and drainage studies ($7.6 million). 40.8% of the money spent will be in District A projects ($20.4 million), 28.4% in District D ($14.2 million), and the remainder in District B ($7.9 million), District C ($1 million), and citywide studies ($5.6 million). There are no individual projects listed for District E. Some of these projects lump in drainage with other intended uses, like the Willie Hall Playground athletic fields that will have 5 million gallon stormwater storage underneath the football and baseball fields. One project in Lakeview will improve the ongoing flooding issue with the West End box culvert while also reconstructing substandard roads and sidewalks around Fleur de Lis Park. Another $2.4 million is allocated for flooding mitigation at the juvenile jail. They’ve claimed this is a recurring safety issue for detained children and staff, however, it’s important to inspect larger projects and how they are being billed.
The Audubon Institute will oversee a project listed at $24 million in stormwater retention in lagoons, along with a $2.1 million “design fee.” BGR lists the cost of the bond at $4.6 million. Like NOMA with the infrastructure bond, the Audubon Institute is a multi-million dollar non-profit with $10 million in assets that does not pay property taxes while using millions of tax dollars for capital projects on their property. One project stands out like a sore thumb: $6 million to the Office of Economic Development for the demolition of the Lindy Boggs abandoned hospital. This appears to be doing more to drain public dollars than to drain stormwater. This property, along with the Bywater Naval Base, are two of the many blighted properties deceased corporate landlord Joe Jager used to own.
# Charter Amendments
## PW HRC Amendment No. 1 of 2 – Amends Sec. 5-404 – CC
This charter amendment changes the deadlines for City Planning Commission and City Council to approve amendments to the master plan so that City Council and CPC both have 90 days to introduce, review, and pass amendments instead of 60 and 90 days. The Master Plan runs through 2030, and there’s been no indication on when the city will begin the process for the next Master Plan.
## PW HRC Amendment No. 2 of 2 – Amends Art. IV, Sec. 4-406 – CC
The City Attorney is like a child caught in a parental fight. During the lawsuit against the mayor’s office regarding the tax dollars the City was skimming from the Orleans Parish School Board, the City Attorney was in the unenviable position of representing the City against the City. This conflict of interest motivated the introduction of a charter amendment that affirms the City Attorney’s primary constituency as the entire City as well as other definitions on independence and ethics concerns.
# Security Districts
## Lakewood Crime Prev. & Imp. Dist. – $600 Parcel Fee – CC – 8 Yrs.; Tall Timbers Crime Prev. and Imp. Dist. – $230 Parcel Fee – CC – 5 Yrs.; Upper Audubon Security Dist. – $1,200 Parcel Fee – CC – 7 Yrs.; Spring Lake Subdivision Imp. Dist. – $200 Parcel Fee Renewal – CC – 8 Yrs.; French Quarter Economic Development Dist. – 0.245% S&U Tax Renewal – CC – 5 Yrs.
Crime prevention/security districts further racist policing tactics in majority white neighborhoods and business areas. DSA does not support taxes for overpolicing. Each of these districts, in spite of their names, devote funding (most of them entirely) towards additional NOPD resources including overtime and surveillance technologies. There is no oversight on whether these security districts will collaborate or cooperate with ICE or other federal agencies that kidnap our neighbors, coworkers, and loved ones.
## Broadmoor Neighborhood Improvement Dist. – $175 Parcel Fee Renewal – CC – 5 Yrs.
We would like to see more neighborhoods transition their security fees into improvement districts as the Broadmoor neighborhood has done, where the funds are allocated to services and public programming for neighbors rather than to overpolicing. Imagine a world where these improvement districts are democratically controlled by elected members of communities with a participatory budget to spend collected taxes.
# Endorsements vs. Recommendations
**An endorsement represents a direct material investment from our membership for a candidate, including volunteers and securing the support of National DSA when applicable. Our endorsement requires the candidate to be a member of our chapter.** The process is initiated with a resolution signed on by at least 1% of our membership in good standing at a general membership meeting. The candidate will attend a Q&A interview curated by members, and requires a majority vote with 25% quorum from our membership after chapter-wide debate. Our chapter has endorsed candidates under this endorsement process for US Congress, School Board, State House, Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, City Council, and Democratic State Central Committee.
National DSA endorsements are initiated by the chapter and require a local endorsement, a review from the DSA National Electoral Commission, and approval by the National Political Committee, DSA’s national leadership body. Devin Davis and Margee Green have received national endorsements in the past.
In contrast, a recommendation can be initiated by any member by presenting a recommendation resolution at one of our monthly general meetings. These recommendations require the consent of a majority of members in a quorate meeting with at least 10% of membership in good standing. **Recommendations will be made explicit in voter guides, but do not devote member time and resources to a given campaign as a chapter priority like an endorsement does.** A lack of recommendation in a given race should not be interpreted as condemnation or praise of any particular candidate(s).
This guide is written and researched by members working with the New Orleans DSA’s Voter Guide Working Group and is approved by elected chapter leadership. We hope you’ve enjoyed your time with us. Join our team and help us build a better future. https://dsaneworleans.org/voter-guides/new-orleans-dsa-fall-2025-voter-guide-runoff-supplement/
