With his win, Cao, the first Vietnamese-American elected to the U.S. House, is poised to take the helm of a district whose demographics don’t favor candidates like him. Drawn to give African-Americans an electoral advantage, 62 percent of the voters in the 2nd District are black, and two-thirds are registered Democrats — although those percentages may shift as voters who have moved away since Hurricane Katrina are removed from the rolls.

Cao, a soft-spoken lawyer from Venetian Isles, managed his unlikely win by taking advantage of a remarkably low turnout in heavily black neighborhoods — dipping to just 12 percent in areas that are more than 90 percent black — as well as strong support from white voters and Republican groups.

Times-Picayune article.

He may only be in Washington for 2 years, but that bio of him is so cool.

It is just amazing to see what is rising out of that cesspool that used to be Louisiana politics.

And [Cao] asked for tolerance from constituents for what he described as a bashful streak that may paint him at times as ill-suited for the office he secured Saturday.

“I’m an extremely hard worker,” Cao said. “But I’m somewhat shy, so if I meet people in the streets and I don’t happen to shake their hands, it’s not because I’m arrogant or stuck up, but sometimes it’s because of my shyness.”

I love this guy! (In a manly way, of course!)

…be nice to think Congressman Cao would at least have a shot at getting re-elected once, in 2010 when Obama still won’t be on the ballot…if he could manage that – and if he does a good enough job to get some positive press back home in Louisiana (and he surely seems the type to do his best to do a good job) – then maybe he could shift to something statewide in the 2012 cycle?

I’m happy the guy won and I’m sure he’ll be infinitely better than Jefferson. But, does anyone know what this guy’s political views are? His campaign website was pretty generic and mostly talked about local issues. I do not mean to be critical of the guy, since whatever he did worked and I’m thankful he won, but just curious if he has a future statewide beyond this district.

LA-02 is has a PVI of D+28, which means that Democrats in the 2004 election did 28 points better than they did in the country at large. The most lopsidedly Republican District is Utah’s 3rd which is R+26.

For good or ill, Cao in 2 years is likely to be in the same situation as Nick Lampson who grabbed Tom Delay’s old seat for one term before it went back to the party of the overwhelming affiliation of the voters.

In 2010, the Democrats in LA-02 will manage to nominate someone in New Orleans politics who hasn’t been found with a freezer full of cash (and there are a few and probably take back the seat. Hopefully, however Cao will be able to use this to run for statewide office in Louisiana.

BTW, the second most Democratic leaning house seat with a Republican is Delaware’s Mike Castle in a D+7 seat and he ran for the seat as a sitting governor in the 7th year in office.