New Orleans
With a long-running bribery investigation hanging over him, eight-term Democrat William Jefferson easily won re-election last week in his New Orleans district. Jefferson, 59, trounced a runoff opponent, State Rep. Karen Carter, 37, who made Jefferson's alleged involvement with a corrupt Nigerian energy company the central issue of her campaign. Jefferson earlier this year was videotaped accepting $100,000 in cash from an FBI informant, and investigators discovered $90,000 in marked bills in Jefferson's freezer. He denied any wrongdoing and said the public had heard "just one side of the story." Though both Jefferson and Carter are black, the vote split along racial lines, with Jefferson taking 79 percent of the black vote, and Carter capturing 76 percent of the white vote.
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