The candidates are Republican John Schroder and Democrat Derrick Edwards.
    Schroder, who is white, lives in Covington.  He is a veteran, small businessman, real estate agent, a developer, and a former state legislator.  He is very serious about wanting this position.
    He has spent nearly one million dollars as of October 29 – $910,105 to be exact.  It is likely that his total expenditures will exceed one million dollars when all is said and done.
 
    When he started the race, he already had $500,000 cash on hand.  He has raised another $599,819 through October 29.  Of that total, $74,948 came from Political Actions Committees (PACs).
    Edwards is a far different story.  He is black and is paralyzed from the neck down from a catastrophic football injury in 1989.  Even after the injury, he graduated with his high school class on time.
    Edwards went on to receive three college degrees, including a law degree.  He is a practicing attorney in New Orleans.
    He has raised only $30,590 of which $7,200 are loans to his committee.  He has spent $22,829 on the race.
    While Schroder is considered the overwhelming favorite in this election, Republicans are a bit nervous about voter turnout, which some officials are predicting will be in single digits.
    The concern comes from the fact that there is a competitive race for mayor of New Orleans between two female candidates that should draw a good turnout of voters.  Most of those voters would likely vote for Edwards.
    In the primary, Edwards finished first with 31% of the vote, while Schroder came in with 24%.  But of the total vote, 66% went to Republican candidates.