The late entry of School Board member Jimmy Fahrenholtz in the Sept. 6 Democratic primary is bad news for former TV newscaster Helena Moreno. She’s still the only female in the race, but she’s no longer the only non-black candidate. That means she will not have a lock on white votes, if she ever had one in the first place. Just as Bill Jefferson and his African-American challengers will have to slug it out for black votes, Moreno now will have to run against Fahrenholtz among whites. This changes the dynamics quite a bit.

The only person less happy than Moreno to see Fahrenholtz join the fray has to be Jefferson, whose best shot at re-election is getting a white opponent in the runoff. Depending on turnout, he may not even make the runoff himself, although he probably starts out with the largest bloc of committed votes.