Jazz Fest, an approaching oil slick and maybe history?  It’s gonna be a busy day in New Orleans.

Thomas Robichaux is one of six candidates competing today in a special election to represent District 93 in the State House, and if he advances to the expected runoff election and wins it later this month, he’d become the first openly gay state legislator ever elected in Louisiana.

Lots could affect the outcome today.  With the city’s huge annual Jazz Fest in full swing, it’s unclear what voter turnout will be like and which candidate will benefit.  On Top Magazine reports:

Robichaux first gained local notoriety in 2008 when he became the first openly gay member of the Orleans Parish School Board. Having adopted a son out of the foster care system, he calls reforming the state’s educational system and championing the foster care system his first priorities.

The city’s gay and lesbian community has rallied to Robichaux’s side, turning the 41-year-old into something of a cause celeb. If elected, Robichaux would make history as Louisiana’s first openly gay state representative.

The victories of two openly gay school board candidates in Louisiana mark the election of the state’s first two openly gay elected officials. Victory endorsee Thomas Robichaux (right) and Seth Bloom both won their elections to the Orleans Parish School Board.

The wins effectively remove Louisiana from the Victory Fund’s “Horizon State” list — a list of states that lack any elected LGBT representation. That list now includes Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota and South Carolina. The Victory Fund has endorsed candidates in two of those states in 2008 — Greg Kniffen, who seeks a seat in the South Dakota House of Representatives, and Linda Ketner, who hopes to represent South Carolina’s first district in the United States Congress.

“Electing an openly gay candidate where one has never been elected before is a sure sign of progress for the LGBT community,” said Chuck Wolfe, president and CEO of the Victory Fund. “Louisiana now joins 46 other states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam in having achieved this important milestone.”

Attorney Thomas Robichaux ran unopposed in his race for the District 7 seat after his opponent was removed from the ballot back in August. Party leaders in Louisiana consider him a rising star in state politics.

Robichaux actively participates in the Louisiana Forum for Equality and hopes to set up a political action committee to further establish a political voice for the LGBT community in Louisiana.

Seth Bloom, a 30-year-old attorney, pulled off a victory against Avis Maria Brock in the parish’s fifth district. Bloom is a Republican, although school board races in Orleans Parish are non-partisan. This is his first time holding elected office.