 Schiro later travelled to Washington, D.C., to lend his support to obtaining congressional legislation that would give storm victims a $5,000 loan forgiveness package.The hurricane hit in the middle of Schiro's 1965 re-election campaign; though the "Times Picayune" and others accused Schiro of attempting to politicize the disaster, Schiro narrowly won re-election against his main opponent, Councilman Jimmy Fitzmorris.Also in the running was perennial mayoral candidate Addison Roswell Thompson, a taxicab operator and a member of the Ku Klux Klan.