Next year's 2nd Congressional District election will be the first in nearly 20 years that won't include William Jefferson.
Political analysts are expecting an intense race as democrats try to get back a seat they had held for decades.
Last year's plethora of democrats, almost all of them black, running the seat may be one of the reasons none of them won.
"You had about six to nine democrats emerge and it was competition for resources but more important strong competition for voter attention and when you have a lot of candidates, sometimes it's harder for voters to distinguish one candidate from another," said political analyst Silas Lee.
William Jefferson came in first in that democratic primary followed by former news anchor Helena Moreno. State Representative Cedric Richmond was a close third.
Some political observers believe there's a good chance Richmond would have come in second, maybe even first, if there hadn't been so many other black democrats to choose from.
If democrats cut their numbers for the 2010 election they have a better chance of getting the seat back in a district where 66 percent of registered voters are democrats.
Congressman Joseph Cao probably won't have much of a chance for re-election unless he can really distinguish himself. He hasn't done anything to date to appeal to those democratic voters in a significant way, let's see what he does in his second year in office, said Tulane political science professor Mike Sherman.
Even so republicans on the national level are said to be excited by Cao and optimistic he can win in 2010.
"They want to be sure he's gonna be well financed to compete and I'm not surprised. The Republican Party is not going to stand on the sidelines and not effectively compete knowing that the democrats want the seat back, said Lee.
With help from the national Republican Party, Cao has raised more than $300,000.
Sherman says that number could be as high as one million when new campaign finance figures come out next week.
"He's well funded. He's a sitting member of congress and if there's any chance for republicans to keep this district it's Congressman Cao."
So far, Richmond, who has raised over $100-thousand, is Cao's only official challenger; although State Representative Juan Lafonta says he will run.
