What will a second Trump presidential term mean for New Orleans?

President-elect Donald Trump, reacts on stage with former first lady Melania Trump during an election night event at the Palm Beach Convention Center on Nov. 6, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

When Donald Trump is sworn into his second term of office on Jan. 20, 2025, it will begin a cascade of activity which will affect residents of Louisiana in general, and residents of New Orleans in particular.

There will be both political effects and public policy effects. The first political effect of a second Trump term will be a significant increase in the power of Gov. Jeff Landry. The governor was an early supporter of Trump and active during all three of his campaigns.

Landry is currently being mentioned as a possible attorney general in the new cabinet. While most observers believe Landry has no interest in moving to D.C. to take a cabinet position, he will have more influence with the White House than any other Republican in the state.

The first area this will be seen is in patronage appointments. Trump will appoint a new slate of U.S. attorneys and U.S. marshals, as well as fill federal judgeships as vacancies open up. While U.S. senators of the incumbent president’s party are given deference in recommending federal appointments, as the senior Republican in the state, Landry will have influence in approving or rejecting candidates if he chooses to exercise it.

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As the governor’s power increases, the power of New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell and 2nd District Congressman Troy Carter will decrease. During the Democratic administration of President Joe Biden, Cantrell and Carter had direct contacts in the White House, specifically through former Congressman Cedric Richmond and former Mayor Mitch Landrieu, both White House advisers.

The mayor and local officials will no longer have a direct line to the White House. Any future funding requests for New Orleans will need to go through the governor or Republican members of the Louisiana congressional delegation. While there is already a large amount of Louisiana Republican congressional influence in D.C. from Speaker Mike Johnson of Shreveport and Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Metairie, Landry will still be an important conduit for any local requests to the White House, simply because he has the closest personal relationship with Trump.

In addition to the political changes, there will also be public policy changes. Louisiana residents can expect the incoming president to work with a Republican majority Congress to quickly bring about reductions in income taxes for certain brackets, new tariffs on imported goods and changes in border policy that will result in increased deportations of undocumented immigrants.

These are national policy changes that will affect all U.S. residents. In Louisiana, the most immediate regional policy changes will involve removing restrictions on the oil and gas industry.

The Biden administration halted issuing new drilling leases and blocked construction on three multi-billion dollar liquified natural gas export hubs, citing environmental reasons. Those restrictions are expected to be lifted. The energy industry argues that lifting restrictions will create many new jobs for Louisiana residents.

There are profound differences in the policies of Biden and Trump, and certain groups – such as undocumented immigrants, federal government employees and oil and gas industry workers – might experience major changes right away. However, the lives of the vast majority of residents will not change quickly. That’s because presidents do not control the local government services that residents depend on every day to move through life. Mayors and city council members control those.

Vital services such as running water, electricity, sewerage, garbage pick-up, police protection, roads, tourism promotion, drainage, flood control, etc., are either provided by the city government or by private companies directly regulated by the city government. The president has no control over these.

Your mayor and the City Council have more daily impact on your quality of life than your president.

In spite of this, the last contested race for an open seat in the New Orleans mayor’s office in 2017 only resulted in a 33% voter turnout. In last Tuesday’s presidential election, New Orleans turnout was about 59%, Louisiana statewide turnout was about 66%.

As we enter 2025, we are entering a municipal election year with an open mayor’s seat. Qualifying for mayor and City Council is July 9-11, the primary is Oct. 11, and the runoff is Nov. 15. Now is the time for New Orleans residents to take at least as much interest in their mayor and City Council as they do in their president and Congress.

Get involved and vote as if your family’s quality of life depends on who holds the mayor and City Council offices. Because it does.

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This article first appeared on Verite News and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.