Rella Zapletal

Rella Zapletal (Democratic Party) ran for election to the New Orleans City Council to represent District B in Louisiana. She lost in the primary on November 13, 2021.

Zapletal completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Rella Zapletal was born in Metairie, Louisiana. Zapletal's professional experience includes working as an attorney. She earned a bachelor's degree from Louisiana State University in 2008 and a J.D. from Tulane Law School in 2013.^[1]

Elections

2021

Louisiana elections use the majority-vote system. All candidates compete in the same primary, and a candidate can win the election outright by receiving more than 50 percent of the vote. If no candidate does, the top two vote recipients from the primary advance to the general election, regardless of their partisan affiliation.

General election

General election for New Orleans City Council District B

Lesli Harris defeated incumbent Jay Banks in the general election for New Orleans City Council District B on December 11, 2021.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Lesli Harris (D)	56.6	6,243
	Jay Banks (D)	43.4	4,790

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 11,033
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for New Orleans City Council District B

Incumbent Jay Banks and Lesli Harris defeated Rella Zapletal and Rosalind Reed-Thibodeaux in the primary for New Orleans City Council District B on November 13, 2021.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jay Banks (D)	44.6	5,896
✔		Lesli Harris (D)	36.7	4,850
		Rella Zapletal (D)	14.2	1,884
	Submit photo	Rosalind Reed-Thibodeaux (Independent)	4.5	598

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 13,228
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Timothy David Ray (D)

Campaign themes

2021

Ballotpedia survey responses

Rella Zapletal completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Zapletal's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am a mom, lawyer, and neighborhood leader. I have lived in District B since 2008, when I moved to New Orleans to attend Tulane Law School. I have been president of my neighborhood association for the past 4 years, responding to neighborhood concerns and delivering results.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Rella Zapletal is a mom, neighborhood president, and professional who delivered on pedestrian safety for families; reduced blight and preserved historic properties; stood up for small businesses against national chains; and secured hefty fines for irresponsible developers in our neighborhoods.
Rella Zapletal will be a City Councilperson who thinks ahead and will fight to make improvements on the issues impacting our families everyday.
We need a neighborhood leader like Rella Zapletal back on the City Council to represent the families of District B. Rella is not owned by any political machine, will be independent, and not afraid to hold people accountable to improve city service delivery and quality of life for our families.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Rella Zapletal is committed to ensuring the residents of District B and New Orleans have reliable power service, water services, and quality of life services. Rella Zapletal is committed to ensuring the City of New Orleans energy infrastructure is resilient and sustainable.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

The two women that have been role models to me throughout my life are my mother and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. My mom has dedicated her legal career advocating and representing those charged with capitol offenses. In addition to being a rockstar public defender, she was also an amazing single mom. In addition to my mother, RBG has been a huge role model in my life. I hope to have the same determination and strong will to make just a small difference.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

An elected official must listen to all constituents, not just those who voted for them or who donated to their campaign. Those who are elected, are elected to represent everyone. That is many times something that is forgotten.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

I have a proven record of being able to finish what I start, even when the goal is lofty or requires collaboration between political adversaries. I’m proud of the solutions I’ve directly implemented for historic preservation and public safety despite the current failed leadership from our representative on City Council District B. I spearheaded the creation of the Touro Bouligny Cultural District, which encourages the redevelopment of blighted properties. This has already had a substantial impact on the neighborhood by bringing blighted properties back into commerce. In addition, as a concerned citizen, I submitted a proposal to our Security District requesting that stop for pedestrian crosswalk signs be installed along our section of Magazine Street. Prior to installment, children going to school and other shoppers and diners supporting our local Magazine Street businesses had to direct traffic on their own to ensure safe crossing. The crosswalk signs have been a huge success ensuring safety for our children walking to school, as well as shoppers and diners on Magazine Street. Making changes that benefit the community as a whole has been at the forefront of my work as Neighborhood association president. Over the years I’ve learned leadership must listen to the concerns at the neighborhood level and even block-by-block level to address community concerns. I am committed to continuing that same commitment as council member. I will bring my resolve to fully follow through on projects I start to the city council. That follow through is severely lacking in our current leadership.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

Oklahoma City Bombing. I was 11 years old.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

I was a camp counselor at Henry S. Jacobs Camp, a camp I had attended all of my life. I was on staff for 5 different summers.

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

Let it Go from Frozen. I have two young children and it is played often in our home.

Are there any little-known powers or responsibilities held by this office that you believe more people should be aware of?

The New Orleans City Council is one of two councils in the country that regulates a publicly traded energy company. The New Orleans City Council approves the rates and profit margin that Entergy is allowed - this is huge!

Do you believe that it's beneficial for holders of this office to have previous experience in government or politics?

I believe that it is beneficial for holders of this office to have previous experience dealing with city government. As neighborhood association president, I have an extensive amount of zoning experience (one of the four responsibilities of the council). In addition, I am very familiar with city government.

What kind of skills or expertise do you believe would be the most helpful for the holders of this office to possess?

A good city council-member must have the ability to listen to constituents, come up with solutions to the problems, and then work until the problem is solved. In addition, having a legal background is an additional benefit to those holding this office.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

External links

Search Google News for this topic

Candidate

New Orleans City Council District B

Personal

Footnotes

↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on September 19, 2021

[bio-1] Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on September 19, 2021

[1]

	v • e State of Louisiana Baton Rouge (capital)
Elections	What's on my ballot? \| Elections in 2025 \| How to vote \| How to run for office \| Ballot measures
Government	Who represents me? \| U.S. President \| U.S. Congress \| Federal courts \| State executives \| State legislature \| State and local courts \| Counties \| Cities \| School districts \| Public policy

Rella Zapletal

Contents

Biography

Elections

2021

General election

General election for New Orleans City Council District B

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for New Orleans City Council District B

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Campaign themes

2021

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also

External links

Footnotes

Information about voting

2025 Elections

2026 Elections

2024 Election analysis

Trending

Public Policy

Information for candidates

Get Engaged

Services

Additional analysis

SITE NAVIGATION