Another First for Congress

Congressman William Jefferson, Democrat from New Orleans, was defeated. The winner is another first for Congress. A Vietnamese American will join the ranks of Congress. Jefferson is under indictment after the FBI found $90,000 in his freezer.

Indicted U.S. Rep. William Jefferson suffered what might be the final blow of his storied political career in the most improbable way Saturday, when an untested Republican opponent took advantage of Louisiana's new federal voting rules -- and an election delay caused by Hurricane Gustav -- to unseat the nine-term Democrat.

With the upset victory, Anh "Joseph" Cao, an eastern New Orleans attorney who fled war-ravaged Saigon as a child, becomes the first Vietnamese-American in Congress. He will represent a district that was specifically drawn to give African-Americans an electoral advantage and one in which two of every three voters are registered Democrats.