The unofficial count from Saturday's (Oct. 14) vote saw Cantrell take 39 percent of the vote to Charbonnet's 30.
Former judge Michael Bagneris finished third with 19 percent. It's the second time Bagneris has run for the city's highest office; he was unsuccessful in 2014 when he tried to unseat Mitch Landrieu.
Cantrell and Charbonnet made their victory speeches simultaneously
"We know that we are world class. We know that," Cantrell told supporters at the New Orleans Jazz Market. "But each and everyone of our residents needs to feel they're world class."
"There are miles to go and work to do before we get there. We've got lots of fight left in us," Charbonnet said at her campaign party at the Hilton Riverside.
Cantrell and Charbonnet will now have to assemble a coalition of voters who supported Bagneris and businessman Troy Henry, who were both propelled by funding from a variety of large business interests.
Saturday's election brings to a close a contentious primary that was most unusual for the absence of direct attacks on candidates by other campaigns. Instead, much of the race was dogged by a shadow campaign that emerged in early September when a political action committee, Notforsalenola.com, unleashed a vicious offensive on Charbonnet, seeking to tie her to corrupt politicians of the past and two campaign consultants whose hardball tactics are widely acknowledged in political circles but unknown among average voters.
