LA-02: Election Day Open Thread

Today is election day for the Louisiana second Congressional district runoff between Democrats Karen Carter and Bill Jefferson. The winner gets to join the majority caucus in the 110th Congress starting in January. Tim tells us what to be on the lookout for:

Here are some notes to keep on eye on this evening: 1.) There are rumors that some members of the CBC have sent staffers down to help Jefferson.  I’ll try and see what I can dig up on that.  2.) East Bank turnout vs. West Bank turnout and how many votes Carter is able to syphon away from the other side of the river.  3.) The racial divide.  4.) Are we going to see busses bringing people in to vote from outside the district.  If we do in large numbers, advantage Jefferson.  5.) How many people stay both stay at home/vote for Jefferson in the hopes at getting another crack at him in two years, or sooner if he’s no longer able to serve.

Polls close tonight at 8pm Central/9pm Eastern. The NOLA.com/Times-Picayune site looks like a good place to watch results as they come in.

UPDATE: Results are coming in. Via NOLA.com:

71 of 492 Precincts Reporting

Karen Carter (D): 47%
Bill Jefferson (D-inc.): 53%

Polls only closed 40 minutes ago, so we likely still have a while yet to go.

UPDATE: WWLTV appears to have quicker updates. They show Jefferson ahead, 54-46, with 43% of precincts reporting.

UPDATE: Wow, that was depressingly quick. Tim says that local TV is already calling it for Jefferson. Suck.

6 thoughts on “LA-02: Election Day Open Thread”

  1. I am a midwesterner and I dont understand this whole system and all of the allegations and cross allegations involved in this election.  My crook is better your crook…My candidate is more liberal than your candidate.  I am just glad that those voting have a handle on the situation.

  2. Well I can assure you that Karen Carter will be a more progressive Representative than William Jefferson.  Jefferson has been running ads linking Carter to gays, cloning, and abortion appealing to the Vernon Robinson voters in Louisiana I guess.  If I didn’t know Jefferson was a Democrat I surely would not have figured it out based on the ads he is running.

    Go Karen Go!

  5. Jefferson got 70% of the vote in Jefferson Parish. The efforts of Sheriff Harry Lee really sank Carter in Jefferson Parish.

    With 66% of the votes in…

    William Jefferson (I) 23,211  58%

    Karen Carter 16,696  42%

  6. Sometimes you have to look at the candidate–Karen Carter?
    Since she needed a lot of white votes to win, was there any effort to turn them out?

    I also think Jefferson’s ad strategy was very effective.  Many black voters are socially conservative, and this will be a potential problem for the Democrats in the future.

    It just seemed there was no “it” in Carter’s campaign.

    Maybe I’m wrong, but candidate quality matters.

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