New Orleans mayoral election, 1977

The New Orleans mayoral election of 1977 resulted in the election of Ernest Morial as the first African-American mayor of New Orleans.

Background

Elections in Louisiana—with the exception of U.S. presidential elections—follow a variation of the open primary system. Candidates of any and all parties are listed on one ballot; voters need not limit themselves to the candidates of one party. Unless one candidate takes more than 50% of the vote in the first round, a run-off election is then held between the top two candidates, who may in fact be members of the same party. In this election, the first round of voting was held on October 1, 1977, and the runoff was held on November 12.

Results

Primary, October 1

Candidate	Votes received
Ernest Morial	41,182
Joe DiRosa	36,862
Nat Kiefer	36,597
DeLesseps "Toni" Morrison, Jr.	32,176
Thomas Lewis Giraud	5,215
Herbert W. Christenberry, Jr.	1,381
Joel Aber	377
Rodney Fertel	293
Cecil M. Shilstone	191
Thomas Joseph Garnier	188
George A. Aiavolasiti	181

Runoff, November 12

Candidate	Votes received
Ernest Morial	90,539
Joe DiRosa	84,325

Preceded by 1973 mayoral election

New Orleans mayoral elections

Succeeded by 1982 mayoral election

Sources

• Board of Supervisors of Elections for the Parish of Orleans. Election Returns of Orleans Parish, 1977.