A Counselor’s Campaign to Heal a Broken City
Ricky Twiggs isn’t your typical politician—and he doesn’t want to be. A licensed professional counselor from the West Bank, Twiggs has worked with youth dealing with addiction, trauma, and neglect for over a decade. Now, he’s bringing that same focus on healing to the 2025 New Orleans mayoral race as an independent candidate with no party backing, no big donors, and no interest in politics-as-usual.
“We’re a city with PTSD,” Twiggs told Newtral Groundz during his Ground Zereaux interview. “We’ve been through trauma after trauma—Katrina, corruption, crime—and nobody ever helped us process it. That’s why I’m running. Not to be another politician, but to be a healer.”
Mental Health, Education & Corruption: His Three-Point Mandate
Twiggs is campaigning on a bold, people-first agenda rooted in three core values: integrity, compassion, and advocacy. His platform centers on:
- Mental Health Reform – Building city-funded infrastructure for adolescent and family counseling, trauma response units, and integrating therapy into public services.
- Education Accountability – Ending the 20-year charter school experiment, returning to neighborhood schools, and creating trade-based pathways to retain youth in the city. “Charters promised transformation. We got stagnation.”
- Anti-Corruption – Live-streamed budgets, donation caps ($100 per donor), no backroom deals. “If you pay taxes, you should see exactly where every dollar goes. In real-time.”
A System That No Longer Works
Twiggs identifies institutional failure as the city’s core issue. “People have lost trust. In schools. In police. In government. And it’s because the institutions have lost their function,” he said.
He’s especially critical of systems that over-promise and under-deliver. “We have a DA who can’t prosecute, police who keep arresting the same people, and broken streets that symbolize broken promises,” he said. “There’s no accountability anywhere. We need a reset.”
On Innovation, Infrastructure & AI
Unlike most candidates, Twiggs speaks fluently on tech policy. He supports AI, but with caution: “Automation is coming fast. We need guardrails to protect jobs.” He proposes an AI tax that can be waived by hiring human workers, especially in public works.
He also supports building hydroelectric systems along the Mississippi and battery storage facilities to tackle the city’s recurring power issues. “New Orleans has airports, ports, trains, and rivers. Why haven’t we built around them?”
And the pothole plan? Combine the Sewerage & Water Board with Public Works for centralized leadership. “Right now, one agency breaks the street, another’s supposed to fix it—and neither talks to each other.”
The Youth at the Center
Twiggs’ most emotional moments came when discussing his work with teenagers.
“When a 15-year-old Black kid tells me he doesn’t expect to live past 20… how can you not want to fix that?” he said. “They don’t know who their leaders are. They don’t have anyone to look up to. That’s not just sad—it’s dangerous.”
He aims to establish pipelines between public schools and local universities like UNO and SUNO, while also advocating for trade programs in plumbing, welding, and carpentry starting in high school. “Not every kid is meant for college, and that’s okay. But every kid deserves a future.”
A Warning and a Call
Twiggs believes New Orleans is at a crossroads—what he calls “a fight for the soul of the city.”
“Either we elect someone who will fix it, or we collapse under the weight of dysfunction. There is no middle path anymore,” he said.
For him, the solution lies in breaking the political machine. “Corruption cannot be fixed by someone inside it. It has to be challenged by someone who was never part of it.”
Why Now?
“Because I got tired of complaining. And if I’m able-bodied, educated, and experienced—and I don’t step up—who will?”
Twiggs’ campaign is powered by small donors and volunteers. He’s refusing donations over $100 and says transparency is non-negotiable.
“This city needs honesty. It needs healing. And it needs a mayor who gives a damn,” he said.
Watch the full Ground Zereaux interview here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch/egJVC4sehao]
