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New Orleans area reelects congressman under probe
2006-12-11
U.S. Rep. William Jefferson won a ninth term to Congress in a surprising landslide on Saturday as loyal black voters shrugged off a federal bribery investigation into $90,000 found in his freezer. Jefferson defeated fellow black Democrat Karen Carter with 57 percent of the vote in the first election for the 2nd Congressional District since Hurricane Katrina destroyed much of the area. "What is called for now is unity, on the East Bank, West Bank, black and white, rich and poor throughout our district, with one objective, to recover this great and wonderful city," Jefferson, Louisiana's first black congressman since Reconstruction in the 19th century, told supporters. Voter turnout was believed to be very low at under 20 percent, a testament to New Orleans' shifting demographics after flooding displaced half of the residents and slow rebuilding thwarted their return. After the November 7 primary, Carter, 37, was the favorite of white voters, who nearly equal the number of blacks in Orleans Parish after the storm. But she performed poorly in Jefferson Parish across the Mississippi River where the sheriff took on Carter for accusing his team of racism in a Spike Lee documentary because they did not allow blacks to cross a bridge to escape flooding. Jefferson, 59, has said repeatedly he has not accepted bribes. But he is under the threat of a possible indictment during his new two-year term. Jefferson's victory may bode poorly for the area's ability to win recovery money in Washington since Democrats led by California Rep. Nancy Pelosi, who will become House speaker next month, ousted him from the powerful Ways and Means Committee following the bribery accusations. "I think it will make it more difficult to get money for Louisiana," political analyst Ed Renwick said.
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