Mayor Cantrell's political aide says recall effort is GOP attack on Black woman leader

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In the first public rebuttal to a longshot recall campaign, a political aide to Mayor LaToya Cantrell defended the mayor's record and called the effort to force her from office a "Republican-backed maneuver" aimed at discrediting a Black woman leader.

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Further, she blamed the recall effort against Cantrell, a Democrat, on Republicans, saying there is "reason to believe a conservative D.C. firm has signed on to lead the effort."

Carroll didn't provide details on which political firm they believed had formally joined the recall push, and current recall leaders said the assertion wasn't true.

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But Batiste, who ran for mayor in 2021 as a Democrat, said in a phone call that he and Carter filed the petition independently, with no backing or coordination with outside groups.

He said Cantrell was "playing the race card," and took exception to it, noting his long history of activism in support of Black residents and against White politicians like former Mayor Mitch Landrieu, former District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro and Gov. John Bel Edwards.

"Why is Gordon Plaza suffering? Why is Lincoln Beach suffering?" Batiste said. "It's about the Black issues that the mayor has denied."

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Carter said in a Tweet that Carroll's comments are "lies and garbage," and noted that she and Batiste are both Black.

"This is not a race issue. It’s a job performance issue. We are grassroots (no money to date)," Carter said. "The divisiveness is one reason we filed the recall."

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