The New Orleans mayoral election of 1946 was held on January 22, 1946. It resulted in the defeat of incumbent mayor Robert Maestri and the election of deLesseps Morrison as Mayor of New Orleans. Background Like most Southern states between Reconstruction and the civil rights era, Louisiana's Republican Party was virtually nonexistent in terms of electoral support. This meant that the city's Democratic primary was the real contest for mayor. Despite his initial popularity, by 1946 incumbent mayor Robert Maestri had developed a reputation for corruption and ineffectual governance. He used his political machine, the Regular Democratic Organization, to dispense patronage and to dominate the city's electoral process. The Campaign A reform candidate, Shirley G. Wimberly, had already run unsuccessfully against Ryan Bernard in the election of 1942. This time, Wimberly announced his candidacy in June 1945 and began charging that Maestri ran an inefficient government with high taxes and a compliant commission council which contributed to the city's economic stagnation. He called for registration of new voters in order to break the hold of machine politics. However, Wimberly ran as an independent and had no significant backing. The Independent Citizens Committee, a group of Uptown reformers, began their own search for a candidate who could challenge Maestri and his Old Regulars on a platform of good government and economic development. They chose former Congressman Joachim O. Fernandez, the city's collector of internal revenue. Though he had been the local Ninth Ward boss of Huey Long's machine, Fernandez began to campaign on a reform platform. But on December 2, 1945, Fernandez abruptly withdrew from the race after making a deal with Maestri, who offered to pay off his campaign expenses. The reform coalition began a desperate search for a replacement candidate, and only six days later emerged with Colonel deLesseps Morrison, a returning Army veteran and state representative for the city's Twelfth Ward who was allied with former reform governor Sam H. Jones. Morrison began his campaign with critiques of the corruption, gangsterism and dictatorship of the Maestri administration. His platform was similar to Wimberly's, but the young and enthusiastic Morrison was a much more dynamic campaigner and had the full support of the city's reform coalition. He augmented his support by allying with women's groups and by forming the Morrison Veterans Organization, which allowed to build support beyond the reformers' traditional Uptown base. His frequent public appearances were a