Voters are saying that they want someone capable of operating a government, someone who is steady at the helm. And considering the challenge to the city right now, I don't think that's a fact that should surprise anyone.

So many of them (blacks) are evacuated. So many who are back are not living where they used to. We were having trouble finding them on the phone.

This is the first opportunity that we've had in three decades to have a white mayor in a majority African American city.

African-American voters had solid turnout.