Louisiana's 2nd congressional district

"LA-2" redirects here. For the state highway, see Louisiana Highway 2.

Louisiana's 2nd congressional district
Representative	Anh "Joseph" Cao R
Population (2000)	638,562
Median household income	25,514
Ethnicity	64.1% Black 30.2% White 3.8% Hispanic 2.7% Asian 0.3% Native American 0.2% other
Cook PVI	D+25

Louisiana's 2nd congressional district contains nearly all of the city of New Orleans (a small portion being located in the neighboring 1st District), and some of its suburbs, including the West Bank portion of Jefferson Parish and South Kenner. The seat is currently held by Republican Anh "Joseph" Cao.

History

Louisiana gained its second district in 1823 as part of the 18th United States Congress. At first comprising New Orleans and significant populations from surrounding areas, it has incrementally been compacted into being a mostly within the city of New Orleans per se. It has also historically been among the most safely Democratic seats in the country; the Republicans had not held this seat since 1891, until Republican nominee Anh Joseph Cao upset Democratic incumbent William J. Jefferson in 2008 for the term to begin in January 2009. Like most Congressional seats in the South, this district consistently voted Democratic from the time of Reconstruction until the 1960s. Since then, its position as a virtually consistent Democratic seat is mostly due to its being one of the "Majority-Minority" districts created as a result of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, to ensure minority voters have a likely opportunity to elect representatives in Congress and to guard against adverse racially-motivated gerrymandering.

The 2008 election was rescheduled for December 6 because of Hurricane Gustav. Jefferson, weakened by an indictment on 16 felony counts, faced Republican candidate Anh "Joseph" Cao, Green candidate Malik Rahim, and Libertarian candidate Gregory Kahn. Jefferson was defeated by Cao.

With the swearing in of Joseph Cao in 2009, he became not only the first Republican to represent the the 2nd district and most of New Orleans in over a century, but also America's first Vietnamese-American Congressman. He is the only Republican in the 111th Congress representing a predominantly African-American district and has the distinction of being a Republican representing the 29th most Democratic-leaning (according to the Cook PVI) district in the country of the 435 districts (top 7%).

Recent election results

2000

Main article: United States House of Representatives elections, 2000

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Democratic Party	William J. Jefferson	unopposed

2002

Main article: United States House of Representatives elections, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Democratic Party	William J. Jefferson	90,310	64	Democratic Party	Irma Muse Dixon	28,480	20	Republican Party	Silky Sullivan	15,440	11	Democratic Party	Clarence Hunt	4,137	3	Independent	Wayne E. Clement	3,789	3

2004

Main article: United States House of Representatives elections, 2004

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Democratic Party	William J. Jefferson	173,510	79	Republican Party	Art Schwertz	46,097	21

2006

Main article: United States House of Representatives elections, 2006

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Run-off Votes*	Run-off %*	Democratic	William J. Jefferson*	28,283	30%		51%	Democratic	Karen Carter*	20,364	22%		49%	Democratic	Derrick Shepherd	16,799	18%	Republican	Joe Lavigne	12,511	13%	Democratic	Troy Carter	11,304	12%	Republican	Eric Bradley	1,159	1%	Democratic	Regina Bartholomew	1,125	1%	Democratic	John Edwards	675	1%	Democratic	Scott Barron	621	1%	Libertarian	Gregory Kahn	404	1%	Democratic	Vinny Mendoza	402	0%	Republican	Lance von Uhde	258	0%	Democratic	Deven Collins	121	0%

*Jefferson and Carter advanced to run-off on December 9, with Jefferson winning reelection.

List of Representatives

Representative	Party	Term	District home	Notes
Henry Hosford Gurley	Anti-Jacksonian	1823-1831		District created in 1823
Philemon Thomas	Democratic	1831-1835
Eleazer Wheelock Ripley	Jacksonian Democrat	1835-1839
Thomas Withers Chinn	Whig	1839-1841
John Bennett Dawson	Democratic	1841-1843
Alcée Louis la Branche	Democratic	1843-1845
Bannon Goforth Thibodeaux	Democratic	1845-1849
Charles Magill Conrad	Whig	1849-1850		Resigned to become United States Secretary of War
Vacant		1850
Henry Adams Bullard	Whig	1850-1851
Joseph Aristide Landry	Whig	1851-1853
Theodore Gaillard Hunt	Whig	1853-1855
Miles Taylor	Democratic	1855-1861
Michael Hahn	Unionist	1861-1863
Louisiana's extralegal secession from United States - Civil War		1861-1868
James Mann	Democratic	1868 July 18 - 1868 August 26	New Orleans	Died after serving 5 weeks
Vacant		1868 August 26 - 1869		See John Willis Menard.
Lionel Allen Sheldon	Republican	1869-1875	New Orleans	Defeated
Ezekiel John Ellis	Democratic	1875-1885	Covington, Amite	Retired from Congress, returned to law practice
Michael Hahn	Republican	1885-1886	Saint Charles Parish, Hahnville	Died
Vacant		1886
Nathaniel Dick Wallace	Democratic	1886-1887
Matthew Diamond Lagan	Democratic	1887-1889
Hamilton D. Coleman	Republican	1889-1891
Matthew Diamond Lagan	Democratic	1891-1893
Robert Charles Davey	Democratic	1893-1895
Charles Francis Buck	Democratic	1895-1897
Robert Charles Davey	Democratic	1897-1908		Died
Vacant		1908-1909
Samuel Louis Gilmore	Democratic	1909-1910		Died
Vacant		1910-1910
Henry Garland Dupré	Democratic	1910-1924		Died
Vacant		1924-1924
James Zacharie Spearing	Democratic	1924-1931
Paul H. Maloney	Democratic	1931-1941	New Orleans	Resigned
Vacant		1941-1941
Hale Boggs	Democratic	1941-1943-01-03	New Orleans	Defeated in primary by Paul H. Maloney
Paul H. Maloney	Democratic	1943-01-03-1947-01-03	New Orleans	Retired from Congress
Hale Boggs	Democratic	1947-01-03-October 16, 1972	New Orleans	Died in airplane crash between Anchorage and Juneau
Vacant		1972-10-16 – March 20, 1973
Corinne C. "Lindy" Boggs	Democratic	1973-03-20 – 1991-01-03	New Orleans	Retired
William J. Jefferson	Democratic	1991-01-03 – January 3, 2009	New Orleans	Lost general election
Joseph Cao	Republican	January 3, 2009 - present	New Orleans	Incumbent