by Michelle Krupa and Frank Donze, The Times-Picayune
Saturday December 06, 2008, 11:40 PM
Indicted U.S. Rep. William Jefferson suffered what may be the final blow of his storied political career in the most improbable way Saturday, when an untested Republican opponent took advantage of Louisiana's new federal voting rules -- and an election delay caused by Hurricane Gustav -- to unseat the nine-term Democrat.
With the upset victory, Anh "Joseph" Cao, a eastern New Orleans attorney who fled war-ravaged Saigon as a child, becomes the first Vietnamese-American in Congress. He will represent a district that was specifically drawn to give African-Americans an electoral advantage and one in which two of every three voters are registered Democrats.
Jefferson, the first African-American to represent Louisiana in Congress since Reconstruction and a force on the local political stage for three decades, finished a close second among four general election candidates after beating back stiff challenges from within his own party during earlier rounds of voting.
His defeat came on a day of abysmally low turnout, which political pundits had predicted could be Jefferson's undoing despite his demographic and political advantages.
Ironically, had Gustav not postponed the voting schedule one month, the general election would have been held the same ballot as last month's presidential election, when high turnout among African-American voters likely would have carried Jefferson to a 10th term.
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5 comments:
A Republican won the seat in a mostly Black & Democratic district. Black voters showed that they aren't a brainwashed monolith...that they just don't automatically vote for party & skin color. They are often accused of not being able to break from either.
And for a while there... voters in that district had me scratching my head... especially when they voted for Jefferson in the last election.... after he was indicted.
I guess Black voters are sometimes slow to come around...
In contrast... notice how quickly Ted Stevens was defeated in Alaska...and this is a man who had been in there for 40 + years.
I still find it amazing that Lousiana of all places has an Indian American governor and a Vietnamese delegate AND they are bothe Republican.
@ Anonymous: Iono, man. The voter turnout was pretty low and Jefferson only lost by three points. I'm not sure how much of an indication that is that the black electorate finally "came around."
I would've been more convinced had Dollar Bill lost overwhelmingly.
[quote]A Republican won the seat in a mostly Black & Democratic district. Black voters showed that they aren't a brainwashed monolith...that they just don't automatically vote for party & skin color. They are often accused of not being able to break from either.[/quote]
Excuse me Anon - the FACTS don't back your claims.
Despite being a majority Black district only 13% of the Black voters bothered to show up to the polls.
This was no ACTIVE attempt by the Black voter to PURGE a corrupt politician. This was an example of a group of people who did not express their civic duty to MANAGE THEIR LEADERSHIP, come out to VOTE and authoritatively choose the leadership that they see as fit.
[quote]I still find it amazing that Lousiana of all places has an Indian American governor and a Vietnamese delegate AND they are bothe Republican.[/quote]
BC - does this in turn mean that the DEMOCRATS have any particular history of accomplishment in the area that they can rest their laurels upon?
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