The race for New Orleans City Council District C has only attracted two qualifiers, with District C incumbent Councilwoman Nadine Ramsey defending her seat against a former District C councilwoman Kristin Gisleson Palmer, who held the seat from 2010 until 2014. In a move that surprised some political observers, Palmer opted not to run for a second term, creating an open seat with no incumbent in the 2014 election.
When Nadine Ramsey ran and won in 2014 she bested former councilwoman Jackie Clarkson, who had served 14 years on the City Council—two terms as District C’s representative from 1990 to 1994 and again from 2002 to 2006 and one and half terms as an at-large member, after winning a special election in 2008 to fill the at-large seat on council left vacant by Oliver Thomas’ resignation and re-election two years later.
District C includes of all of Algiers and then crosses the Mississippi River to encompass Tremé, the Central Business District, the French Quarter, Marigny, and Bywater, resulting a diverse set of challenges and issues that will face the person who serves the district from addressing Algiers residents concerns about blight and economic development in the outlying part of the city to the interests of French Quarter businesses and residents to overarching issues like public safety, infrastructure, economic development and unemployment.
