Jefferson, Carter Headed for Runoff in La.

Despite a well-stocked campaign chest and big name support, embattled Louisiana Congressman William Jefferson was forced into a runoff Tuesday, unable to overcome allegations in an FBI affidavit that said he hid bribe money in his freezer.

Jefferson led the multiparty field of 13 and won about 30 percent of the vote, well short of the majority needed for outright victory. He’ll face state Rep. Karen Carter, an up-and-coming New Orleans politician, on Dec. 9. Carter got 22 percent of the vote. Both are Democrats. Carter chairs the insurance committee in the state’s House of Representatives.

Carter said at a news conference that voters clearly want change, with 70 percent of them having voted against the incumbent. “The torch of leadership, pay attention, is passing,” she said.

Incumbents in the other six congressional districts won re-election, including U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-Napoleonville, who faced a tenacious opponent in state Sen. Craig Romero, R-New Iberia.

For over a year, Jefferson has struggled to keep his political fortunes afloat as he fended off allegations of wrongdoing after the FBI raided his homes in Washington and New Orleans.

Jefferson has maintained his innocence and has not been charged with a crime.

“I can look you in the eye and tell you that I am innocent of any allegation, any unproven allegations, and that’s all they are unproven allegations,” Jefferson said Tuesday night to a ballroom full of supporters that included numerous prominent politicians. “I have to ask you to trust me based on 26 years of service not based on 18, 19 months of rumor.”

Those 26 years included 16 years in Congress and the rest in state government.

Before the bribery scandal erupted, Jefferson had climbed to the pinnacle of the Democratic Party. He was a confidant of former President Bill Clinton and held a seat on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee.

But the scandal made him vulnerable, and encouraged a dozen opponents to enter the race.

In a federal bribery probe, a Kentucky businessman and a former Jefferson aide pleaded guilty in an alleged scheme to get kickbacks for helping the businessman get contracts in Africa. Jefferson, meanwhile, was accused in an FBI affidavit of accepting $100,000 in cash in 2005 from an FBI informant in a scheme to bribe Nigerian telecommunications officials. All but $10,000 of the cash was found four days later in the freezer of his Washington home, the FBI said.

The election took place in a city still devastated by Hurricane Katrina, which struck Aug. 29, 2005, flooding 80 percent of the city. Even as voters cast ballots, workers in protective suits were gutting houses in flood-damaged areas. Homeowners have been complaining for months about the slow process of getting aid and uncertainty about future flood protection.

Jefferson argued during the campaign that he was best qualified to help bring home more federal aid, stressing his experience and seniority in Congress. But it was an argument blunted before the campaign even began when the House ousted him from Ways and Means in June.

Turnout in the district was low Tuesday, estimated at 22 percent by demographer and analyst Greg Rigamer, perhaps owing to the storm. Tens of thousands of voters were displaced by Katrina and many voters are so consumed by the rebuilding that they aren’t paying much attention to politics.

The New Orleans-based district is majority black and both runoff candidates are black but turnout among whites was 32 percent while it was 14 among blacks, according to Rigamer’s data.

Despite Jefferson’s legal woes, Mayor Ray Nagin, trade unions, preachers and several prominent city politicians backed him. But the state Democratic Party backed Carter.

Jefferson poured about $650,000 into the campaign, more than double the amount Carter spent.

On Tuesday night at her election rally, Carter said the race was not really about Jefferson and his problems, but instead about her vision of what the area needs.

“There are those around us, unfortunately, who would rather see us divided. Divided between Democrats and Republicans, black and white, divided between West Bank and East Bank, Jefferson Parish and Orleans, uptown and downtown. But recovery does not have a D or an R behind it the last I checked.”

In other congressional races, all five Republican incumbent House members – Richard Baker of Baton Rouge, Bobby Jindal of Metairie, Rodney Alexander of Quitman, Charles Boustany of Lafayette, Jim McCrery of Shreveport – won easily.

In the 3rd District, Democrat Melancon had 55 percent of the vote against Romero, a term-limited senator, and two others.

Statewide, eight constitutional amendments were approved, including one combining New Orleans’ seven tax assessor offices into one.