Cynthia Willard-Lewis

Cynthia W. Willard-Lewis (born 1952 in New Orleans, Louisiana) is a Democratic Party member of the Louisiana State Senate, being elected from District 2 in an October 2, 2010 special election to replace Ann Duplesis, who resigned to take a position in Mayor Mitch Landrieu's administration. . The daughter of Dr Elliot Willard and Mary Jane Willard, Cynthia Willard-Lewis represented District 100 in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1993 to 2000 when she was elected to the City Council. She is a graduate of Xavier University of Louisiana, where she was a member of Zeta Phi Beta sorority. Willard-Lewis is a former first runner-up in the Black Miss America Pageant.^[1]

In 2007, when Oliver Thomas was eliminated from an at-large seat on the Council because of conviction for bribery, Willard-Lewis attempted to win the at-large seat but was defeated by then-former Councilwoman Jacquelyn Brechtel Clarkson in a special election reported nationwide as it changed the Council's racial majority.^[2] In 2006 Willard-Lewis, together with Mayor Ray Nagin supported a landfill project's opponents led by then-future U.S. Representative Republican Joseph Cao.^[3] In 2009 Willard-Lewis was back in the news for telling fellow Councilwoman Stacy Head to "sit down with your prop" when Head was displaying a poster critical of the Orleans Parish garbage-collection fees—a discussion which preceded the New Orleans e-mail controversy.^[4]

Willard-Lewis participates in a number of community organizations, including the NAACP. She attends Saint Raymond's Roman Catholic Church. By profession she is a public relations consultant for Lakeland Hospital. She has two children.^{[5][dead link]}

Notes

1. ^ Willard-Lewis election campaign bio.
2. ^ New Orleans council is again majority white, Los Angeles Times, 2007 November 17.
3. ^ MQVNCDC "About Us" web site.
4. ^ Council trash meeting heats up, New Orleans CityBusiness, 2009 February 04.
5. ^ City Council bio for Willard-Lewis.

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Name	Willard-Lewis, Cynthia
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Date of birth	1952
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