Ray Nagin will defend his job as New Orleans' mayor against Louisiana Lt Gov Mitch Landrieu in a runoff after residents and evacuees voted yesterday in the ravaged city's first post-Katrina election.
Mr Nagin, who many pundits wrote off early due to a shaky initial response to Hurricane Katrina and some racially charged statements, was on top with 39 per cent of the vote after 94 per cent of precincts reported.
Lt Gov Landrieu, son of New Orleans' last white mayor and brother of US Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu, garnered 28 per cent.
The two will tout their visions for the massive job of rebuilding the birthplace of jazz in a May 20th run-off vote.
"There have been too many people who have said we were dead. There were too many people who said we were way too divisive. There were too many people who thought this city should go in a different direction," Nagin told supporters. "But the people, the people have said they like the direction we're going in and we have run number one today."
Voting was brisk in what community leaders called the most important vote in the city's nearly three-century history.
At stake is the speed and shape of the recovery amid concerns over the strength of the levees before the next hurricane season begins, drained city coffers, racial tension and questions about whether some badly damaged neighborhoods will get rebuilt.
"The questions are simple: Who do you trust with your future, with the future of your family?" Landrieu said. "The second question is, who and what group of people can bring us together so that we can speak with one voice?"
The election was pushed back from February 4th to accommodate out-of-town voters since more than half the city's population remains displaced across the country.