Louisiana's 2nd congressional district election, 2006

The election to Louisiana's 2nd congressional district was noteworthy since the incumbent, William J. Jefferson (D), was announced under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which claimed they had videotaped him accepting 100,000 USD in bribes. The police also found money in Jefferson's freezer that was hidden amidst frozen food products. Jefferson was stripped of his membership in the Ways and Means Committee as a result.

The seat is located in heavily Democratic New Orleans. No Republican has represented this district since Reconstruction. A Republican lawyer, Joe Lavigne, ran against Jefferson, while a number of Democrats have jumped into the race, include state Senator Derrick Shepherd of Marrero, former New Orleans City Councilman Troy Carter, and state Representative Karen Carter. In mid-October, the State Democratic party voted to endorse Karen Carter, the first time in recent memory that the state party has backed a challenger to its own incumbent Congressman. [cite news | title=Democratic Party in La. Backs Rival Of Jefferson | publisher=Associated Press | date=October 15, 2006 | url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/14/AR2006101401267.html]

Jefferson and Carter had finished in the top two places with 30% and 22% respectively, sending them to a run-off election where Jefferson defeated Carter 57% to 43% [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/10/politics/main2243959.shtml] .

Candidates

* Joe Lavigne (born March 17, 1976) was a Republican candidate. He finished in fourth place with 12,405 votes, 13.4% of the total votes cast.

References

External links

* [http://www.joelavigne.com Joe Lavigne's official campaign site]
* [http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-6/1161243459173740.xml&coll=1 New Orleans Times-Picayune profile, October 19, 2006]