Louisiana held two elections for U.S. House on December 6, instead of November 4. Republicans won both.
In the 2nd district, the results are: Anh Cao, Republican, 49.55%; William Jefferson, Democratic, 46.82%; Malik Rahim, Green, 2.81%; Greg Kahn, Libertarian, .82%. The district is centered on New Orleans. Jefferson was the incumbent.
In the 4th district, the results are: John Fleming, Republican, 49%; Paul Carmouche, Democrat, 47%; Chester Kelley, independent, 3.5%; Gerald Bowen, independent, .7%. The 4th district had a retiring Republican incumbent, and is in northwest Louisiana. Thanks to Independent Political Report for the figures for the non-major party candidates in the 4th district, and to David Gaines for the minor party figures in the 2nd district.
Actually the final results in LA-2 had the margin of victory as smaller than the number of votes Rahim got.
So consider this election a bit of a victory for easy ballot access, as Kelley in LA-4 and Rahim in LA-2 had more votes than the margin of victory. Both of which got on the ballot without the hassles of most states. And Congressman-elect Joseph Cao made it on the ballot relatively easily (in contrast to the hoops for even partisan candidates in some places).
Cao is also the first Congressman born in Vietnam, and was an independent State House candidate, winning 14%ish in 2007
With 100% of precincts in, CNN has the 2nd district as Cao 49% and Jefferson 47% (with 4% unaccounted for, as usual).
Richard, where did you get your figures from?
The results from the Louisiana Secretary of State’s website are:
33,122 49.55% Anh “Joseph” Cao, R
31,296 46.82% William J. Jefferson, D
1,880 2.81% Malik Rahim, G
548 0.82% Gregory W. Kahn, L
Rahim’s performance is disappointing. I expected him to have more votes. It’s just not the time to vote third yet. Probably the time will be in 2012.
Louisiana’s new Congressional delegation will have no black member for the first time in 18 years.
However, Cao will be Louisiana’s first Asian Congressman and the country’s first Vietnamese-American Congressman.
Interestingly, just last year Louisiana elected the country’s first Indian-American governor.
Also, the Fourth District race was actually closer than the cited figures indicate. The final numbers in that race are:
Fleming 44,497 – 48.07%
Carmouche 44,141 – 47.69%
Kelley 3,245 – 3.51%
Bowen 675 – .73%
Fleming won by a mere 356 votes.
Three of Louisiana’s seven U.S. Representatives were elected this cycle with less than half of the votes cast. This is significant because it would not have been possible in previous years. Under the old law in Louisiana, a runoff would have had to be held until one candidate got over half of the votes cast.
Here’s the link to the La. Sec. of State’s website’s page for the results in the Second and Fourth District races:
http://staticresults400.sos.louisiana.gov/120608state.htm
The LA-2 race was considered a safe seat even though the incumbent was indicted for corruption and will soon face trail. The local press gave little coverage to the race which exacerbated the low turnout, making the surprise defeat possible. There was barely mention of the green and libertarian candidates in the press.
George Romney, after serving as Governor of Michigan, also ran for President. He was a candidate for President in 1968, ultimately losing the Republican nomination to Richard Nixon. See: http://www.answers.com/topic/george-w-romneymney.html
It is notable that while Romney was born in Mexico, he was still considered to be a viable and legal candidate to run for office. His Mormon grandfather and his three wives fled to Mexico in 1886, but none of them ever relinquished their citizenship. While the Constitution does provide that a president must be a natural born citizen, the first Congress of the United States in 1790 passed legislation stating: “The children of citizens of the United States that may be born beyond the sea, or outside the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural-born citizens of the United States.” Romney and his family fled Mexico in 1912 prior to the Mexican revolution. However, the Naturalization Act of 1795 repealed the Act of 1790 and changed the status of such children born to US Citizens abroad to that of citizen. Therefore, Romney, if challenged, would likely have been ruled ineligible for the office of President.
Why can BHO’s ancestry not be tracked as this was?
The LA so-called elections of the 2 U.S.A. Reps. blatantly violate 2 U.S.C. Sec. 7 — THE day, THE election.
The Constitution gets subverted some more.
# 8 The gerrymander Congress has ZERO power to define the words and phrases in the Constitution by any mere law — even by a mere law in the First Congress.